Dale Sandford

The multi-object, fiber-fed spectrographs for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

We present the design and performance of the multi-object fiber spectrographs for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and their upgrade for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Originally commissioned in Fall 1999 on the 2.5 m aperture Sloan Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, the spectrographs produced more than 1.5 million spectra for the SDSS and SDSS-II surveys, enabling a wide variety of Galactic and extra-galactic science including the first observation of baryon acoustic oscillations in 2005. The spectrographs were upgraded in 2009 and are currently in use for BOSS, the flagship survey of the third-generation SDSS-III project. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.35 million massive galaxies to redshift 0.7 and Lyα absorption of 160,000 high redshift quasars over 10,000 deg2 of sky, making percent level measurements of the absolute cosmic distance scale of the universe and placing tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy. The twin multi-object fiber spectrographs utilize a simple optical layout with reflective collimators, gratings, all-refractive cameras, and state-of-the-art CCD detectors to produce hundreds of spectra simultaneously in two channels over a bandpass covering the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared, with a resolving power R = λ/FWHM ~ 2000. Building on proven heritage, the spectrographs were upgraded for BOSS with volume-phase holographic gratings and modern CCD detectors, improving the peak throughput by nearly a factor of two, extending the bandpass to cover 360 nm < λ < 1000 nm, and increasing the number of fibers from 640 to 1000 per exposure. In this paper we describe the original SDSS spectrograph design and the upgrades implemented for BOSS, and document the predicted and measured performances.

ARCES: an echelle spectrograph for the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) 3.5m telescope

A new echelle spectrograph was commissioned in 1999 for the ARC 3.5 meter telescope. The key features of the instrument are that it has a resolution of 9 km/sec, limited by the pixel size of the CCD; has no moving parts behind the slit during observation; provides complete spectral coverage from 3200A to 10000A, limited by the prism cross disperser material on the blue side and by the CCD sensitivity on the red side; provides blazeless spectra; achieves S/N>3000; and is remotely operable. The instrument is being used for studies of abundances in stars and for a large survey of diffuse interstellar bands.

HAWC: a far-infrared camera for SOFIA

When SOFIA enters operation, it will be the largest far- infrared telescope available, so it will have the best intrinsic angular resolution. HAWC (High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera) is a far-infrared camera designed to cover the 40 - 300 micron spectral range at the highest possible angular resolution. Its purpose is to provide a sensitive, versatile, and reliable facility-imaging capability for SOFIAs user community during its first operational use.

Development of the HAWC Far-Infrared Camera for SOFIA

HAWC (High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera) is a facility science instrument for SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). It is a far-infrared camera designed for diffraction-limited imaging in four spectral passbands centered at wavelengths of 53, 89, 155, and 216 μm. Its detector is a 12x32 array of bolometers cooled to 0.2 K by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. In this paper, we report on the development and testing of the instrument and its subsystems.

Commissioning ShARCS: the Shane adaptive optics infrared camera-spectrograph for the Lick Observatory Shane 3-m telescope

We describe the design and first-light early science performance of the Shane Adaptive optics infraRed Camera- Spectrograph (ShARCS) on Lick Observatory’s 3-m Shane telescope. Designed to work with the new ShaneAO adaptive optics system, ShARCS is capable of high-efficiency, diffraction-limited imaging and low-dispersion grism spectroscopy in J, H, and K-bands. ShARCS uses a HAWAII-2RG infrared detector, giving high quantum efficiency (<80%) and Nyquist sampling the diffraction limit in all three wavelength bands. The ShARCS instrument is also equipped for linear polarimetry and is sensitive down to 650 nm to support future visible-light adaptive optics capability. We report on the early science data taken during commissioning.

Keck Planet Finder: preliminary design

The Keck Planet Finder (KPF) is a fiber-fed, high-resolution, high-stability spectrometer in development for the W.M. Keck Observatory. The instrument recently passed its preliminary design review and is currently in the detailed design phase. KPF is designed to characterize exoplanets using Doppler spectroscopy with a single measurement precision of 0.5 m s−1 or better; however, its resolution and stability will enable a wide variety of other astrophysical pursuits. KPF will have a 200 mm collimated beam diameter and a resolving power greater than 80,000. The design includes a green channel (445 nm to 600 nm) and red channel (600 nm to 870 nm). A novel design aspect of KPF is the use of a Zerodur optical bench, and Zerodur optics with integral mounts, to provide stability against thermal expansion and contraction effects.

A large array of telescopes in Antarctica with all-sky imaging every 5 seconds

We describe a large-angle survey for fast, optical transients: gamma ray bursts (GRBs), supernovae (SNe), lensed and transiting planets, AGNs and serendipitously found objects. The principal science goals are to obtain light curves for all transients and to obtain redshifts of GRBs and orphan afterglows. The array is called Xian. In conjunction with the gamma-ray satellites, ECLAIRs/SVOM and GLAST, the data will be used to study sources from z=0.1 to >6. The telescope array has 400 Schmidt telescopes, each with ~20 sq. degree focal planes and apertures of ~0.5 meters. The passively cooled, multiple CCD arrays have a total of 16000x16000 pixels, up to 13 readout channels per 1K x 4K CCD and work in TDI mode. The system provides continuous coverage of the circumpolar sky, from the Antarctic plateau, every few seconds. Images averaged over longer time intervals allow searches for the host galaxies of the detected transients, as well as for fainter, longer timescale transients. Complete, data at high time resolution are only stored for selected objects. The telescopes are fixed and use a single filter: there are few (or no) moving parts. Expected detection rates are 0.3 GRBs afterglows per day, >100 orphan afterglows per day and >0.1 blue flashes per day from Type II or Type Ib/c supernovae. On-site computers compare successive images and trigger follow-up observations of selected objects with a co-sited, well-instrumented telescope (optical, IR; spectroscopy, photometry, polarimetry), for rapid follow-up of transients. Precursor arrays with 20-100 square degrees are planned for the purpose of developing trigger software, testing observing strategies and deriving good cost estimates for a full set of telescope units.

Fabrication completion and commissioning of a deployable tertiary mirror for the Keck I Telescope

The new deployable tertiary mirror for the Keck I telescope (K1DM3) at the W. M. Keck Observatory has been assembled, tested and shipped to the telescope site, and is currently being installed. The mirror is capable of reflecting the beam to one of six positions around the telescope elevation ring or to retract out of the way to allow the use of Cassegrain instruments. This new functionality is intended to allow rapid instrument changes for transient event observations and improve telescope operations. This paper presents the final as-built design. Additionally, this paper presents detailed information about our alignment approach in the attempt to duplicate the instrument pointing orientation of the existing M3.