OSE Seminar with Dr. Andrew (AJ) Metcalf on Designing the First Deployable Infrared Astrocomb and ​ Enabling the Search for Nearby Habitable Worlds​

Departmental News

ose log

Posted: February 12, 2019

Date: Thursday, February 14, 2019 

Time:  11:00 AM to Noon

Location: Physics and Astronomy Building, Rm. 190

Map to Physics and Parking Information click on the link:

http://physics.unm.edu/findpanda/

ADA Accommodations are available. Please send us an email in advance for any special accommodations.

Speaker:

Dr. Andrew (AJ) Metcalf

Space Vehicles Directorate at Air Force Research Labs

Abstract:

The discovery and characterization of exoplanets around nearby stars are driven by profound scientific questions about the uniqueness of Earth and our Solar system, and the conditions under which life could exist elsewhere in our Galaxy.  Doppler radial velocity (RV) spectroscopy has been used extensively to identify hundreds of exoplanets, but with notable challenges in detecting terrestrial-mass planets orbiting within habitable zones.  Here I will discuss the design and deployment of a new calibration source comprised of an Astro-comb and the Habitable Zone Planet Finding Spectrograph. This tandem was recently deployed at the 10 m Hobby-Eberly telescope and has enabled the search for Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of M-Dwarfs – the most abundant type of star in our galaxy.

Biography:

Andrew (AJ) Metcalf is a research scientist in the Space Vehicles Directorate at Air Force Research Labs, where he has been since 2018. From 2015-2018 he served as a Research Associate at NIST working with Dr. Scott Diddams. Before Joining NIST he spent 5 years working in Prof. Andrew Weiner’s Ultrafast Optics Lab at Purdue University and 2 years at Harley Davidson Motor Company in Milwaukee WI.  He received a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 2010, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2012 and 2015. His research has focused on the design, manipulation, and characterization of high-repetition-rate optical frequency combs and their applications.