Latest News

May 2022
GPI 1.0 has been shipped on May 6th to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where the upgrades will be taking place.

August 2020
GPI 1.0 is decommissioned at Gemini South, after being in nearly continuous operation since 2013.

What is GPI 2.0?

Gemini Planet Imager 2.0 (GPI 2.0) is an upgrade of the GPI instrument previously located at Gemini South. The upgrade includes an enhanced high-sensitivity wavefront sensor, newcoronagraph masks with smaller inner working angles or higher throughput, new spectrographic modes, and software/operability improvements. GPI 2.0 is an extreme adaptive-optics imaging polarimeter and integral-field spectrometer, which will provide diffraction-limited data between 0.97 and 2.4 microns with a Strehl Ratio in H-band of ~0.9 down to 12^th magnitude stars and will continue to operate, albeit with a decreased performance, beyond the 14^th magnitude. The system should provide contrast ratios of 10⁷ for companions at separations of 0.2-1.0" in a 1-2 hour observation thanks to an upgrade of its coronagraph. The science instrument will also be upgraded to provide a single-shot YJHK spectroscopy at R~12 and higher spectral resolution in single bands (R~40 in H-band). The control software will be updated to significantly increase the efficiency and robustness of GPI operations. The dual-beam polarimetry will remain unchanged. GPI 2.0 will still be capable of detecting point sources down to H=20, with ≥5σ, in 1 hour in absence of photon noise from a bright companion.

Science Cases

• lower mass planets around younger stars
• higher mass planets around older stars
• closer (4-10 AU) orbits
• characterization of the distribution peak of giant planets around solar-type stars
• differentiate between cold-start (core accretion) and hot-start (disk collapse) formation models
• very young stars and transitional disks
• planet variability and abundances
• AGN jets, both spectroscopic and polarimetric
• asteroids and other solar system bodies

Main Upgrades

• EMCCD-based pyramid wavefront sensor
• broadband low spectral resolution prisms
• redesigned apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph (APLC)
• new instrument calibration unit with a new-generation self-coherent camera

Capabilities

All capabilities listed below are the goals of the upgrade and are subject to change.

• AO operable 0-14^th mag, with a graceful degradation after 13^th mag
• Strehl ratio 0.9 for stars brighter than H=12
• contrast ratio 10⁷ at separations 0.2-1.0"
• wavelength range 0.97-2.4µm
• plane options
  • coronagraphy (APLC)
  • direct (no APLC)
  • non-redundant mask (NRM)
• IFU spectroscopy
  • single-shot YJHK at R~12
  • single-band at R~40
  • 2.7" square field of view
  • 0.014" per lenslet spatial sampling
• polarimetry
  • dual-channel polarimetry
  • Y, J, H and K bands

Timeline

Commissioning is expected to begin in mid-2025 with the aim to offer it to the community in 2026.

Instrument Design

GPI 2.0 is an extreme adaptive optics system. Figure below highlights the main instrument design changes between the original GPI 1.0 system and GPI 2.0.

Figure 1: Schematic of the GPI 1.0 subsystems (left) and GPI 2.0 (right). Components being upgraded are highlighted in green.
(Credit: Chilcote et al., 2020, SPIE 11447, 114471S.)

GPI 2.0 Team

• Jeffrey Chilcote, University of Notre Dame, Project Leader
• Quinn Konopacky, UC San Diego
• Bruce Macintosh, UC Observatories
• Dmitry Savransky, Cornell University
• Oyku Galvan, Gemini, Project Manager
• Teo Mocnik, Gemini, Instrument Scientist
• Garima Singh, Gemini, AO Scientist
• Christy Cunningham, Gemini, Systems Engineer
• Carlos Quiroz, Gemini, Software Engineer