The Path to Detecting Extraterrestrial Life With Astrophotonics

Abstract:
Astrophysical research into exoplanets has delivered thousands of confirmed planets orbiting distant stars. These planets span a wide range of size and composition, with diversity also being the hallmark of system configurations, the great majority of which do not resemble our own solar system. Unfortunately, only a handful of the known planets have been characterized spectroscopically thus far, leaving a gaping void in our understanding of planetary formation processes and planetary types. To make progress, astronomers studying exoplanets will need new and innovative technical solutions. Astrophotonics -- an emerging field focused on the application of photonic technologies to observational astronomy -- provides one promising avenue forward. In this paper we discuss various astrophotonic technologies that could aid in the detection and subsequent characterization of planets and in particular themes leading towards the detection of extraterrestrial life.

About the Speaker:
Nemanja Jovanovic received his Ph.D. in laser physics from Macquarie University in 2010. He worked as a postdoc. on astrophotonics at the Australian Astronomical Observatory until 2012. He moved to Subaru Telescope where he was part of the SCExAO high contrast exoplanet imaging instrument team until 2017. Currently, Nemanja is the Optics and Systems Group Lead at Caltech developing advanced exoplanet instruments for the largest ground based telescopes while leading several technical developments in astrophotonics.