Dr. Tyler M. McCracken Profile

Dr. Tyler M. McCracken

at BAE Systems, Inc. Space and Mission Systems

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Presentation + Paper

Achieved maturation of key component-level technologies to enable large, segmented apertures in an ultra-stable optical architecture

Laura Coyle, Tyler McCracken, Laurent Pueyo, Remi Soummer, Matthew East, Jonathan Arenberg, Bob Hellekson, Todd Lawton, Marcel Bluth, James Tucker, Sang Park, Michael Eisenhower, Benjamin Cromey, Jeremy Shugrue, Joseph Ho, Jake Crouse, Alex Klein, Dustin Putnam, Brian Hicks, Randy Abbott, Bruce Hardy, Ananya Sahoo, Iva Laginja, Sean Brennan, Colin Kingsley, Vincent Tagliamonti, Vera Versteeg, David Stewart, Laurie Hill, Michael Lesczynski, Sze Chaung

Proceedings Volume 13092, 130921K (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3014539

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Control systems, Design, Coronagraphy, Sensors, Telescopes, Optical surfaces, Deformation, Simulations, Wavefront errors

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Proceedings Article | 9 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

The Magdalena Ridge Observatory interferometer: first light and deployment of the first telescope on the array

M. Creech-Eakman, V. Romero, I. Payne, C. Haniff, D. Buscher, J. Young, F. Santoro, R. Blasi, C. Dahl, J. Dooley, D. Etscorn, A. Farris, M. Fisher, E. Garcia, C. Gino, B. Jaynes, L. Jencka, P. Johnston, C. Jurgenson, R. Kelly, D. Klinglesmith, E. R. Ligon, J. Luis, T. McCracken, C. McKeen, D. Mortimer, D. Ochoa, A. Olivares, J. Pino, C. Salcido, L. Schmidt, E. Seneta, X. Sun, D. Wilson

Proceedings Volume 10701, 1070106 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314155

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Space telescopes, Interferometers, Mirrors, Interferometry, Sensors, Relays, Optical instrument design, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, Reflector telescopes

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The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer (MROI) has been under development for almost two decades. Initial funding for the facility started before the year 2000 under the Army and then Navy, and continues today through the Air Force Research Laboratory. With a projected total cost of substantially less than $200M, it represents the least expensive way to produce sub-milliarcsecond optical/near-infrared images that the astronomical community could invest in during the modern era, as compared, for instance, to extremely large telescopes or space interferometers. The MROI, when completed, will be comprised of 10 x1.4m diameter telescopes distributed on a Y-shaped array such that it will have access to spatial scales ranging from about 40 milliarcseconds down to less than 0.5 milliarcseconds. While this type of resolution is not unprecedented in the astronomical community, the ability to track fringes on and produce images of complex targets approximately 5 magnitudes fainter than is done today represents a substantial step forward. All this will be accomplished using a variety of approaches detailed in several papers from our team over the years. Together, these two factors, multiple telescopes deployed over very long-baselines coupled with fainter limiting magnitudes, will allow MROI to conduct science on a wide range and statistically meaningful samples of targets. These include pulsating and rapidly rotating stars, mass-loss via accretion and mass-transfer in interacting systems, and the highly-active environments surrounding black holes at the centers of more than 100 external galaxies. This represents a subsample of what is sure to be a tremendous and serendipitous list of science cases as we move ahead into the era of new space telescopes and synoptic surveys. Additional investigations into imaging man-made objects will be undertaken, which are of particular interest to the defense and space-industry communities as more human endeavors are moved into the space environment.

In 2016 the first MROI telescope was delivered and deployed at Magdalena Ridge in the maintenance facility. Having undergone initial check-out and fitting the system with optics and a fast tip-tilt system, we eagerly anticipate installing the telescope enclosure in 2018. The telescope and enclosure will be integrated at the facility and moved to the center of the interferometric array by late summer of 2018 with a demonstration of the performance of an entire beamline from telescope to beam combiner table shortly thereafter. At this point, deploying two more telescopes and demonstrating fringe-tracking, bootstrapping and limiting magnitudes for the facility will prove the full promise of MROI. A complete status update of all subsystems follows in the paper, as well as discussions of potential collaborative initiatives.

Proceedings Article | 9 July 2018 Paper

The MROI fringe tracking system: camera hardware modifications to integrate the SAPHIRA detector

R. Ligon, C. Salcido, D. Buscher, M. Creech-Eakman, C. Haniff, F. Santoro, C. Jurgenson, T. McCracken, L. Schmidt, J. Young

Proceedings Volume 10701, 107010D (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312673

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Spectrographs, Cameras, Optical alignment, Electronics, Monochromatic aberrations, Imaging systems, Tolerancing, Zemax, Interferometry

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Proceedings Article | 9 August 2016 Paper

EXPRES: a next generation RV spectrograph in the search for earth-like worlds

C. Jurgenson, D. Fischer, T. McCracken, D. Sawyer, A. Szymkowiak, A. Davis, G. Muller, F. Santoro

Proceedings Volume 9908, 99086T (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233002

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Telescopes, Spectrographs, Calibration, Optical fibers, Stars, Mirrors, Cameras, Signal to noise ratio, Optical benches, Finite element methods

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Proceedings Article | 24 July 2014 Paper

Magdalena Ridge Observatory interferometer: 2014 status update

M. Creech-Eakman, V. Romero, I. Payne, C. Haniff, D. Buscher, C. Dahl, A. Farris, M. Fisher, C. Jurgenson, D. Klinglesmith, T. McCracken, M. Napolitano, A. Olivares, J. Riker, S. Rochelle, C. Salcido, F. Santoro, L. Schmidt, R. Selina, E. Seneta, A. Shtromberg, X. Sun, D.M.A. Wilson, J. Young

Proceedings Volume 9146, 91460H (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057331

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Interferometers, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, Mirrors, Space telescopes, Observatories, Relays, Optical alignment, Prototyping, Optical instrument design

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Proceedings Article | 24 July 2014 Paper

The MROI fringe tracker: laboratory tracking with ICONN

T. McCracken, C. Jurgenson, J. Young, E. Seneta, D. Buscher, C. Haniff, M. Creech-Eakman, F. Santoro, A. Shtromberg, L. Schmidt, S. Rochelle

Proceedings Volume 9146, 91461E (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055603

KEYWORDS: Visibility, Sensors, Wavefronts, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, Interferometers, Detection and tracking algorithms, Mirrors, Polarization, Spectrographs, Optical alignment

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Proceedings Article | 10 July 2014 Paper

Design of a radial velocity spectrograph for the Moletai Astronomical Observatory

Colby Jurgenson, Debra Fischer, Tyler McCracken, Rebecca Stoll, Andrew Szymkowiak, Matt Giguere, Fernando Santoro, Gary Muller

Proceedings Volume 9147, 91477F (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056491

KEYWORDS: Spectrographs, Telescopes, Cameras, Calibration, Finite element methods, Mirrors, Observatories, Interfaces, Astronomy, Human-machine interfaces

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Proceedings Article | 8 July 2014 Paper

Single-lock: a stable Fabry-Perot based wavelength calibrator

T. McCracken, C. Jurgenson, D. Fischer, R. Stoll, A. Szymkowiak, J. Bradford, W. Rutter

Proceedings Volume 9147, 91473L (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056488

KEYWORDS: Calibration, Laser stabilization, Prototyping, Tunable lasers, Fabry–Perot interferometers, Spectral calibration, Diagnostics, Modulation, Servomechanisms, Data acquisition

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Proceedings Article | 12 September 2012 Paper

The MROI fringe tracker: closing the loop on ICoNN

T. McCracken, C. Jurgenson, F. Santoro, A. Shtromberg, V. Alvidrez, N. Torres, C. Dahl, A. Farris, D. Buscher, C. Haniff, J. Young, E. Seneta, M. Creech-Eakman

Proceedings Volume 8445, 84451N (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925457

KEYWORDS: Modulators, Sensors, Spectrographs, Cameras, Modulation, Interferometers, Light sources, Control systems, Detection and tracking algorithms, Calibration

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Proceedings Article | 12 September 2012 Paper

The Magdalena Ridge Observatory interferometer: a status update

M. Creech-Eakman, V. Romero, I. Payne, C. Haniff, D. Buscher, V. Alvidrez, C. Dahl, J. Deninger, A. Farris, S. Jimenez, C. Jurgenson, R. King, D. Klinglesmith, T. McCracken, A. Olivares, C. Salcido, Fernando Santoro, John Seamons, Robert Selina, Alisa Shtromberg, J Steenson, Nick Torres, Martin Fisher, E. Seneta, X. Sun, D. Wilson, John Young

Proceedings Volume 8445, 84450P (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926516

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Interferometers, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, Relays, Mirrors, Observatories, Prototyping, Computing systems, Optical alignment, Space telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 12 September 2012 Paper

Final mechanical and opto-mechanical design of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer

Fernando Santoro, Andres Olivares, Chris Salcido, Stephen Jimenez, Colby Jurgenson, Xiaowei Sun, Christopher Haniff, David Buscher, Michelle Creech-Eakman, Robert Selina, Tyler McCracken, John Young, Martin Fisher, Dan Klinglesmith, Nicolas Torres, Chuck Dahl, Alisa Shtromberg, Donald M. Wilson

Proceedings Volume 8445, 84452K (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926501

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Telescopes, Sensors, Spectrographs, Prisms, Aluminum, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, Prototyping, Laser metrology, Metrology

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Proceedings Article | 22 July 2010 Paper

The MROI fringe tracker: first fringe experiment

C. Jurgenson, F. Santoro, T. McCracken, K. McCord, A. Shtromberg, D. Klinglesmith, A. Olivarez, D. Buscher, M. Creech-Eakman, C. Haniff, J. Young

Proceedings Volume 7734, 773446 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857128

KEYWORDS: Spectrographs, Sensors, Interferometers, Telescopes, Modulation, Temperature metrology, Cameras, Visibility, Optical filters, Calibration

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Proceedings Article | 22 July 2010 Paper

Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer: advancing to first light and new science

M. Creech-Eakman, V. Romero, I. Payne, C. Haniff, D. Buscher, C. Aitken, C. Anderson, E. Bakker, T. Coleman, C. Dahl, A. Farris, S. Jiminez, C. Jurgenson, R. King, D. Klinglesmith, K. McCord, T. McCracken, K. Nyland, A. Olivares, M. Richmond, M. Romero, C. Salcido, J. Sandoval, F. Santoro, J. Seamons, R. Selina, A. Shtromberg, J. Steenson, N. Torres, D. Westpfahl, F. Baron, M. Fisher, E. Seneta, X. Sun, D. Wilson, J. Young

Proceedings Volume 7734, 773406 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857359

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Interferometers, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, Neodymium, Observatories, Sensors, Mirrors, Infrared radiation, Wavefronts, Field emission displays

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Proceedings Article | 22 July 2010 Paper

Fringe modulation for an MROI beam combiner

T. McCracken, C. Jurgenson, D. Baird, J. Seamons, K. McCord, D. Buscher, C. Haniff, J. Young

Proceedings Volume 7734, 77343V (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857295

KEYWORDS: Modulators, Modulation, Field programmable gate arrays, Sensors, Control systems, Atmospheric corrections, Amplifiers, Detection and tracking algorithms, Optical tracking, Mirrors

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Showing 5 of 14 publications

Conference Committee Involvement (1)

UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts XII

3 August 2025 | San Diego, California, United States

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