Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer

The Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer (KPIC) consists of a series of upgrades and new modules for the Keck II telescope's adaptive optics system and instrument suite. Specifically, we added the following modules: new vortex coronagraphic masks to NIRC2, a new infrared pyramid wavefront sensor, a fiber injection unit linking the Keck II AO system to NIRSPEC. The goal of KPIC is to enable the direct imaging of exoplanets at thermal infrared wavelengths with the venerable NIRC2 camera, and their spectroscopic characterization at high resolving power with the NIRSPEC spectrograph. KPIC is now fully operational and has started to deliver its first science results.

The KPIC team includes the following partners which have contributed to various aspects of the project:

Caltech: D. Mawet (PI), N. Jovanovic(Co-PI), J. Wang, D. Echeverri, J. Llop, K. Matthews,​ J. Pezzato, B. Calvin, T. Schofield, J.-B. Ruffio

JPL: J.K. Wallace, R. Bartos, G. Ruane, E. Serabyn, G. Vasisht, AJ Riggs​

W.M. Keck Observatory: P. Wizinowich(PI), J.-R. Delorme, S. Cetre, S. Lilley, S. Ragland, C. Alvarez, C. E. Wetherell

UK Astronomy Technology Ctr: Charlotte Z. Bond

University of Hawaii: M. Chun(Co-PI), C. Baranec, D. Hall, D. Atkinson, S. Goebel, C. Lockhart, E. Warmbier​, M. Bottom

University of Liege: O. Absil, E. Huby, B. Carlomagno, C. Gomez, A. Jolivet, J. Surdej, S. Habraken, C. Delacroix

Uppsala University: E. Vargas, P. Forsberg, M. Karlsson​

UCLA: M. Fitzgerald, E. Wang, E. Martin, K. Magnone, C. Johnson, R. Lopez​

UCSC: A. Skemer, E. Morris, E. Martin

Subaru: O. Guyon​

LAM: T. Fusco​ Arcetri: C. Plantet, S. Esposito​

ANU: F. Rigault​ STFC: C.Z. Bond

OSU: J. Wang​

KPIC is supported by grants from the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Simons Foundation, NSF, JPL, and Caltech.