On June 24, the Jiangsu Astronomical Society announced the review results for the 2026 Science and Technology Award of the Jiangsu Astronomical Society, and the outcomes of the VIPA Spectroscopy Technology and Instrument Project by the Astronomical Photonics Team at the Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics, Technology and Astrophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, were awarded the Second Prize.
Aiming to provide compact, low-cost, and high-resolution spectroscopic instruments for astronomical observations, the Astronomical Photonics Team began VIPA (Virtual Imaging Phase Array) spectroscopy research in 2016 and has achieved a series of results over 10 years of development.
The team developed the world’s first VIPA-based ultra-high-resolution and ultra-high-precision spectroscopic experimental system, achieving a spectral resolution of 1,060,000 (~0.6 pm) and short-term wavelength calibration precision better than 10 cm/s (Astron. J., 2019).
The team first demonstrated that the dispersive capability of a VIPA spectrometer is almost independent of the core diameter of the input fiber and provided an explanation for this phenomenon.
This finding removed the major obstacle to the ground-based observational application of VIPA spectrographs (Astron. J., 2023).
Building on solutions to problems such as high-precision data processing and large-field aberration correction, the team completed the development of the VIPA spectrometer and carried out several iterative upgrades, bringing its performance parameters to a world advanced level; for example, while maintaining a spectral resolution above 500,000, it achieves a real-time detection bandwidth exceeding 110 nm.
The self-developed instrument completed its first astronomical observations in China and began supporting astronomical research; for example, it verified for the first time in ground-based observations the Si I line discovered by the Xihe (CHASE) satellite and revealed differences among quiet regions, sunspots, and filaments in Fe I lines (Astron. J., 2026).
In parallel with advancing astronomical applications, the self-developed VIPA spectrometer has begun to support needs in other fields, including biomedical detection, optical thin-film characterization, plasma characterization, and laser characterization.
Some of these application scenarios were first proposed and implemented by the project team. The Astronomical Photonics Team will continue to advance VIPA spectroscopy research and instrument applications, particularly by providing high-performance instruments for scenarios such as solar observation and space observation, making important contributions to scientific discoveries and data production.
