Curriculum Vitae

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Project lead of the NIGHT spectrograph.

PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Thesis: The Design and Development of NIGHT: A High-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectrograph for Exoplanetary Atmospheric Escape Studies via Helium Triplet Spectroscopy

Advisors: Prof. Francesco Pepe & Prof. Christophe Lovis

Defended 12 November 2025 with distinction très bien (highest)

MSc in Astronomy, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Thesis: A Design Study of ABORAS: A Robotic, Polarimetric Solar Telescope for HARPS3

Supervisors: Prof. Frans Snik & Dr. Willem Jellema

BSc in Astronomy, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Thesis: Constructing the Backend of the Kapteyn Interferometer for Short-Baseline Solar Observations (KISS)

Supervisors: Prof. J. McKean & Prof. A. Baryshev

Edith Alice Müller Award, Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy (SSAA), for an outstanding PhD thesis in astronomy in Switzerland

Award for the EXPOSURE mission concept, Alpbach Summer School

Beta Business Days Tech Start-up Award

Kapteyn Science Day Award

For the development of NIGHT; PI; success rate 15 %

54 nights on the 1.52 m telescope, Observatoire de Haute-Provence (France), secured for NIGHT commissioning and on-sky tests (lead)

40+ nights as observer at the Swiss 1.2 m Euler telescope, La Silla Observatory (Chile)

Project lead, NIGHT (Near-Infrared Gatherer of Helium Transits), University of Geneva

Designed and built a compact, fiber-fed, high-resolution near-infrared spectrograph dedicated to surveying the metastable helium triplet in exoplanet atmospheres. Led an international team of scientists and engineers; collaborated with industrial partners on novel instrumentation for fiber-fed high-resolution spectroscopy, securing >CHF 100,000 in in-kind hardware contributions. First light at the OHP 1.52 m telescope in 2025. Negotiated the installation of NIGHT at the 3.58 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), La Palma.

NUV spectrograph assessment, WALTzER, ESA F-class mission concept

Preliminary assessment of the near-ultraviolet spectrograph: optical design of a toroidal concave-grating spectrograph covering 240–325 nm at R > 2800, with trade studies of the shutter mechanism, dichroic and cross-dispersion sampling.

Project lead, ABORAS, polarimetric Sun-as-a-star telescope for HARPS3

Research intern, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research & TU Delft

Micromachined dielectrics for SPICA/SAFARI: simulation and evaluation of an effective dielectric material for a resonant immersed waveplate.

Observatory assistant, Blaauw Observatory, University of Groningen

Farret Jentink, C., Pepe, F., Lovis, C., Schwab, C., Wildi, F., & Clawson, A., High-resolution, high-efficiency narrowband spectroscopy with an s-p-phased holographic grating in double pass, A&A, 698, A249. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554218 · arXiv:2505.11147

Farret Jentink, C., Bourrier, V., Lovis, C., Allart, R., Chazelas, B., Lendl, M., Dumusque, X., & Pepe, F., NIGHT: A compact, near-infrared, high-resolution spectrograph to survey helium in exoplanet systems, MNRAS, 527, 4467. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad3285 · arXiv:2310.17275

Frensch, Y. G. C., Bouchy, F., Lo Curto, G., et al. (incl. Farret Jentink, C.), Three hot Jupiters transiting K-dwarfs with significant heavy element masses, A&A, 700, A118. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202553879 · arXiv:2506.04923

Fontanet, E., Udry, S., Ségransan, D., et al. (incl. Farret Jentink, C.), CORALIE radial-velocity search for companions around evolved stars (CASCADES). IV. New planetary systems around HD 87816, HD 94890, and HD 102888 and an update on HD 121056, A&A, 699, A38. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554137 · arXiv:2505.14317

Seidel, J. V., Prinoth, B., Pino, L., et al. (incl. Farret Jentink, C.), Vertical structure of an exoplanet’s atmospheric jet stream, Nature, 639, 902. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08664-1 · arXiv:2502.12261

Farret Jentink, C., Bourrier, V., & Carteret, Y., Probing Atmospheric Escape Through the Near-Infrared Helium Triplet, in the PlanetS Legacy book, publication date November 2026. arXiv:2602.03667

Farret Jentink, C., Pepe, F., Lovis, C., Bourrier, V., et al., NIGHT at the OHP152 Telescope: a dedicated high-resolution near-infrared spectrograph for exoplanetary atmospheric escape, Proc. SPIE, 14149, 1414906. doi:10.1117/12.3102864

Farret Jentink, C., Pepe, F., Lovis, C., Bovay, S., et al., The Near-Infrared Gatherer of Helium Transits (NIGHT), Proc. SPIE, 13096, 130967O. doi:10.1117/12.3014420 · arXiv:2405.18899

Farret Jentink, C., Mortier, A., Snik, F., Dorval, P., Thompson, S. J., Navarro, R., & Naylor, T., ABORAS: polarimetric, 10 cm/s RV observations of the Sun as a star, Proc. SPIE, 12182, 1218231. doi:10.1117/12.2627113 · arXiv:2207.04804

Hagelberg, J., Restori, N., Ségransan, D., et al. (incl. Farret Jentink, C.), On-sky performance of KalAO the swift adaptive optics imager on the 1.2 m Euler Swiss telescope in La Silla, Chile, Proc. SPIE, 13097, 130970C. doi:10.1117/12.3019089

Dorval, P., Politopoulos, I., Nicholson, B., ter Horst, R., Farret Jentink, C., et al., The polarimetric performance of HARPS3 and its impact on the Terra Hunting Experiment scheduling, Proc. SPIE, 13096, 130968C. doi:10.1117/12.3018722

Jellema, W., Ridder, M., Eggens, M., Farret Jentink, C., Formsma, J., Alfaro-Gomez, M., & Gutierrez-Tadeo, G., A Broadband Resonant Half-Waveplate for Compact Far-Infrared Grating Spectrometers with Continuous Wavelength Band Division, 47th Int. Conf. on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz), 582. doi:10.1109/IRMMW-THz50927.2022.9895967

Contributed talk, CHArting the future of Stellar and Exoplanet Spectroscopy (CHASES 2026), ESO/INAF/OCA conference, Elba, Italy

First light of the NIGHT spectrograph at the 152cm telescope of OHP

Contributed talk, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2026, Copenhagen, Denmark

NIGHT at the OHP152 Telescope: a dedicated high-resolution near-infrared spectrograph for exoplanetary atmospheric escape

Invited talk, ARIEL Science Day France, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Paris, France

The NIGHT Project

Invited talk, NCCR PlanetS General Assembly, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Invited talk, NCCR PlanetS General Assembly, Engelberg, Switzerland

CHASES 2026 (ESO/INAF/OCA conference), Elba, Italy

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Copenhagen, Denmark

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Yokohama, Japan

Spectral Fidelity, Florence, Italy

Alpbach Summer School, Alpbach, Austria

Extreme Precision Radial Velocities V (EPRV V), Santa Barbara, USA

Teaching assistant, Observational Techniques (MSc), University of Geneva

Course by Prof. Francesco Pepe, covering spectroscopy, adaptive optics, light detection, interferometry and polarimetry.

Teaching assistant, Observations, Data Acquisition & Analysis (MSc), University of Geneva

Course by Prof. Laurent Eyer, covering the data processing of the Gaia catalogue.

Teaching assistant, The Evolving Universe (BSc), University of Groningen

Course by Prof. Marc Verheijen, covering a summary of modern astronomy for the astronomy minor.

Astrophysics teacher, Boswell Beta, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Angelos Mengoudis, MSc thesis, University of Geneva

Co-supervised with Prof. Christophe Lovis and Prof. Frans Snik.

Angelos Mengoudis, MSc astrophysics laboratory (APL) project, University of Geneva

Mariam Haidar, MSc thesis, University of Geneva

Guidance during the MSc thesis (informal; not official supervisor).

Antonin Besse, MSc astrophysics laboratory (APL) project, University of Geneva

First-year student mentor, University of Groningen

Invited public talk to celebrate Pride and LGBTQIA+ in Astronomy, Astronomy on Tap, Bern, Switzerland: Reading the Rainbow

Documentary, VPRO Tegenlicht (Dutch national broadcaster)

University of Geneva press release on NIGHT first light

Interview, NRC (Dutch national newspaper)

Invited public talk, Scientifika, Stockholm, Sweden

Operator, DOT Liveplanetarium, University of Groningen

Operator, Kapteyn Mobile Planetarium, University of Groningen

Board member, JWG, Dutch youth association for astronomy

Sirius A, study association of astronomy, University of Groningen

Vice-chair & commissioner of internal affairs (2017–2018); chair of the board (2018–2019; budget ~EUR 20k, >250 members); advisory board (2019–2020).

Local policy coordinator, education & culture, Volt Netherlands

Optical design, (fiber-fed) (high-resolution) spectroscopy, (VPH) gratings, near-infrared detectors, polarimetry, optics/lithography

Python, MATLAB, LaTeX, Zemax, COMSOL, Adobe CC

Dutch (native), English (fluent), German (proficient), French (intermediate)