Ana Belen Fragoso-Lopez

OSIRIS tunable imager and spectrograph for the GTC. Instrument status

OSIRIS (Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy) is the optical Day One instrument for the 10.4m Spanish telescope GTC to be installed in the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos (La Palma, Spain). This instrument, operational in mid-2004, covers from 360 up to 1000 nm. OSIRIS observing modes include direct imaging with tunable and conventional filters, long slit and multiple object spectroscopy and fast spectrophotometry. The OSIRIS wide field of view, high efficiency and the new observing modes (tunable imaging and fast spectrophotometry) for 8-10m class telescopes will provide GTC with a powerful tool for their scientific exploitation. The present paper provides an updated overview of the instrument development, of some of the scientific projects that will be tackled with OSIRIS and of the general requirements driving the optical and mechanical design.

LIRIS: a long-slit intermediate-resolution infrared spectrograph for the WHT

The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) is undertaking the design and construction of a common-user near IR spectrograph (LIRIS) for the Cassegrain focus of the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope sited at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos. LIRIS will be a near IR intermediate-resolution spectrograph designed to operate over a spectral resolution range between 1000 and 5000, with added capabilities for coronographic, multiproject and polarimetric observations. The instrument allows the combination of an adequate spatial resolution with a large useful field of view across the slit, thanks to the use of the new 1024 X 1024 pixel HgCdTe Hawaii detector manufactured by Rockwell. All the optics and mechanisms situated inside the cryostat will be cooled to below 100 K. The detector will operate at 77 K. Calibration and tracking will be made with the existing Cassegrain A and G Box, into which a near IR calibration system will be incorporated.

Grisms development for EMIR

EMIR is a multiobject intermediate resolution (R ≈ 4000) near infrared spectrograph with image capabilities to be mounted on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). EMIR shall provide image and spectra of a wide FOV (6x6 arcmin in imaging mode and 6x4 arcmin in multiobject spectroscopic mode), and will use grisms as dispersive elements. The use of grisms has great advantages in the design and manufacture of infrared spectrographs but there are not many suitable materials for the EMIR requirements. The grisms material must have good transmission in the working spectral range (1.0 - 2.5 μm) and given the required resolution, a high refractive index is necessary. Also the required homogeneity of the grism material makes it difficult to find a good candidate due to the large size of the EMIR grisms. Furthermore the technical difficulties related to the grooving process on large surfaces is an important issue to be addressed. Taking into account all those constraints and the EMIR requirements, several sets of materials, rulings and dimensions have been identified. These alternative solutions for EMIR grisms are proposed and analysed in terms of their physical characteristics, expected resolution, spectral coverage on detector and diffraction efficiency. Current status of the procurement of the devices will be given.

Status of the EMIR optical system

EMIR is a intermediate resolution near infrared (1.0 - 2.5 microns) multiobject spectrograph with image capabilities, to be mounted on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). EMIR is being built by a consortium of Spanish, French and British institutions, led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. EMIR is being funded by GRANTECAN and the Plan Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica (National Plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Spain) as one of the first common user instruments for the GTC. The instrument shall deliver images and spectra from a large FOV (6x6 arcmin in imaging mode, and 6x4 arcmin in multislit spectroscopic mode). Due to the telescope image scale (1 arcmin = 52 mm) and the spectral resolution required (around 4000), one of the major challenges of the instrument is the optical design and the manufacture. The detailed optical design and its expected performance will be presented. In particular the main risk areas will be identified and our risk control strategy will be outlined.

EMIR, cryogenic NIR multi-object spectrograph for GTC

EMIR is a near-IR, multi-slit camera-spectrograph under development for the 10m GTC on La Palma. It will deliver up to 45 independent R equals 3500-4000 spectra of sources over a field of view of 6 feet by 3 feet, and allow NIR imaging over a 6 foot by 6 foot FOV, with spatial sampling of 0.175 inch/pixel. The prime science goal of the instrument is to open K-band, wide field multi-object spectroscopy on 10m class telescopes. Science applications range from the study of star-forming galaxies beyond z equals 2, to observations of substellar objects and dust-enshrouded star formation regions. Main technological challenges include the large optics, the mechanical and thermal stability and the need to implement a mask exchange mechanism that does not require warming up the spectrograph. EMIR is begin developed by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Observatoire Midi-Pyrennees, and the University of Durham. Currently in its Preliminary Design phase, EMIR is expected to start science operation in 2004.

Status report on the EMIR optical system

EMIR is a multiobject intermediate resolution near infrared (1.0 - 2.5 microns) spectrograph with imaging capabilities, to be mounted on the Gran Telescopio Canarias. After the successful results of the preliminary design review, EMIR optical system is being fixed. Detailed status of the solutions adopted for the optical system as well as the developments made and their results are presented. Management and technical issues related to the procurement of the different optical components are shown.

The EMIR optical system

EMIR is a multiobject intermediate resolution near infrared (1.0 - 2.5 microns) spectrograph with image capabilities to be mounted on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain). EMIR is under design by a consortium of Spanish, French and British institutions, led by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. This work has been partially funded by the GTC Project Office. The instrument will deliver images and spectra in a large FOV (6 X 6 arcmin), and because of the telescope image scale (1 arcmin equals 52 mm) and the spectral resolution required, around 4000, one of the major challenges of the instrument is the optics and optomechanics. Different approaches have been studied since the initial proposal, trying to control the risks of the instrument, while fitting the initial scientific requirements. Issues on optical concepts, material availability, temperature as well as optomechanical mounting of the instrument will be presented.

Temperature-dependent optical rotatory power in the presence of birefringence of KTA and KTP crystals by the high-accuracy universal polarimeter method at 632.8 nm wavelength

Temperature-dependent simultaneous measurement of birefringence and optical rotatory power (ORP) for orthorhombic crystals of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA) has been achieved by using the high-accuracy universal polarimeter method at 632.8 nm wavelength. The birefringence and ORP changes along the (110) planes for KTA and KTP crystals were found to have a nearly parabolic form for the temperature range 297–493 K. The thermal variation coefficients were found to be 0.9 (5) × 10−5 K−1 and 5.6 (3) × 10−8 K−2 for KTA and 0.9 (5) × 10−5 K−1 and 5.7 (3) × 10−8 K−2 for KTP. The ORPs at 297 K were found to be 20.0 (20) and 20.5 (15)° mm−1 for KTA and KTP, respectively. The thermal variation coefficients of the ORP were found to be 1.8 (2) × 10−3° mm−1 K−1 and 1.1 (1) × 10–5° mm−1 K−2 for KTA and 1.9 (2) × 10−3° mm−1 K−1 and 1.2 (1) × 10−5° mm−1 K−2 for KTP.

The opto-mechanical design of HARMONI: a first light integral field spectrograph for the E-ELT

HARMONI is a visible and near-IR integral field spectrograph, providing the E-ELTs spectroscopic capability at first light. It obtains simultaneous spectra of 32000 spaxels, at a range of resolving powers from R~4000 to R~20000, covering the wavelength range from 0.47 to 2.45 μm. The 256 × 128 spaxel field of view has four different plate scales, with the coarsest scale (40 mas) providing a 5″ × 10″ FoV, while the finest scale is a factor of 10 finer (4mas). We describe the opto-mechanical design of HARMONI, prior to the start of preliminary design, including the main subsystems - namely the image de-rotator, the scale-changing optics, the splitting and slicing optics, and the spectrographs. We also present the secondary guiding system, the pupil imaging optics, the field and pupil stops, the natural guide star wavefront sensor, and the calibration unit.

Wavelength selection in OSIRIS

The Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) is an imaging system and a low-resolution long-slit and multi-object spectrograph for the 10.4m Spaninsh telescope GTC. OSIRIS spectral range (from 365 up to 1000 nm) and observing modes require a wide set of elements in order to provide imaging and spectroscopic capatibilities. Two tunable filters covering the full OSIRIS spectral range allow narrow band imaging with resolutions from R=300 to 1000. Twelve grisms provide spectral resolutions from R=250 through R=2500. In this contribution the design and characteristics of the tunable filters and grisms selected for OSIRIS are presented.