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The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high contrast imaging instrument that aims to detect and characterize extrasolar planets. GPI is being upgraded to GPI 2.0, with several subsystems receiving a re-design to improve its contrast. To enable observations on fainter targets and increase performance on brighter ones, one of the upgrades is to the adaptive optics system. The current Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (WFS) is being replaced by a pyramid WFS with an low-noise electron multiplying CCD (EMCCD). EMCCDs are detectors capable of counting single photon events at high speed and high sensitivity. In this work, we characterize the performance of the HNu ̈ 240 EMCCD from Nuvu Cameras, which was custom-built for GPI 2.0. Through our performance evaluation we found that the operating mode of the camera had to be changed from inverted-mode (IMO) to non-inverted mode (NIMO) in order to improve charge diffusion features found in the detector’s images. Here, we characterize the EMCCD’s noise contributors (readout noise, clock-induced charges, dark current) and linearity tests (EM gain, exposure time) before and after the switch to NIMO. 

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high-contrast imaging instrument designed to directly detect and char- acterise young, Jupiter-mass exoplanets. After six years of operation at the Gemini South Telescope in Chile, the instrument is being upgraded and moved to the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii as GPI 2.0. Several improvements have been made to the adaptive optics (AO) system as part of this upgrade. This includes re- placing the current Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor with a pyramid wavefront sensor (PWFS) and a custom EMCCD. These changes will increase GPI’s sky coverage by accessing fainter targets, improving corrections on fainter stars and allowing faster and ultra-low latency operations on brighter targets. The PWFS subsystem was independently built and tested to verify its performance before being integrated into the GPI 2.0 instrument. This paper will present the pre-integration performance test results, including pupil image quality, throughput and linearity without modulation. 

Abstract The 1RXS J034231.8+121622 system consists of an M dwarf primary and a directly imaged low-mass stellar companion. We use high-resolution spectroscopic data from Keck/KPIC to estimate the objects' atmospheric parameters and radial velocities (RVs). Using PHOENIX stellar models, we find that the primary has a temperature of 3460 ± 50 K and a metallicity of 0.16 ± 0.04, while the secondary has a temperature of 2510 ± 50 K and a metallicity of ${0.13}_{-0.11}^{+0.12}$. Recent work suggests this system is associated with the Hyades, giving it an older age than previous estimates. Both metallicities agree with current Hyades [Fe/H] measurements (0.11–0.21). Using stellar evolutionary models, we obtain significantly higher masses for the objects, 0.30 ± 0.15M_⊙and 0.08 ± 0.01M_⊙(84 ± 11M_Jup), respectively. Using the RVs and a new astrometry point from Keck/NIRC2, we find that the system is likely an edge-on, moderately eccentric ( ${0.41}_{-0.08}^{+0.27}$) configuration. We also estimate the C/O ratio of both objects using custom grid models, obtaining 0.42 ± 0.10 (primary) and 0.55 ± 0.10 (companion). From these results, we confirm that this system most likely went through a binary star formation process in the Hyades. The significant changes in this system's parameters since its discovery highlight the importance of high-resolution spectroscopy for both orbital and atmospheric characterization of directly imaged companions.