WIRC+Pol

WIRC+Pol is a new polarimetry mode for WIRC camera at the the Palomar 200-inch telescope that provides R~100 spectropolarimetry in the J and H-bands. A description of the initial 2017 upgrade can be found in Tinyanont, Millar-Blanchaer et al., 2019a. In 2019 I lead a further upgrade of the instrument to include a rotatable half-wave plate (Tinyanont, Millar-Blanchaer et al., 2019b). Initial post-upgrade characterization puts our instrumental polarization at <0.04%, well below the ~0.1% needed for our brown dwarf and exoplanet survey.

An image of me in the Palomar prime-focus cage, where we installed the new WIRC+Pol upgrade, floating 15m above the primary mirror.

A demonstration of the spectropolarimetric precision of WIRC+Pol in the J-band, after the 2019 upgrade. Image reproduced from Tinyanont, Millar-Blanchaer et al., 2019b. We are now beginning routine operations of WIRC+Pol, which is being used for a brown dwarf and exoplanet survey (see my Science section), as well as observations of supernova, asteroids and protoplanetary disks.