3D-integrated optics component for astronomical spectro-interferometry

We present the experimental characterization of a spectro-interferometry setup based on a laser-written three-dimensional integrated optics component. By exploiting the interferometric capability of a two-dimensional array of evanescently coupled waveguides, we measure the mutual coherence properties of three different polychromatic optical fields. Direct application of our discrete beam combiner (DBC) component is astronomical interferometry. The DBC can be scaled up to combine arbitrary large number of telescopes for the determination of coherence properties of astronomical targets. Besides applications to astronomy, the DBC can be also applied to optical integrated metrology system requiring nanometric position monitoring. The working principle, the experimental setup used, and the broadband performance of the DBC are presented.