Damien Jones

AAOmega: a scientific and optical overview

AAOmega is a new spectrograph for the existing 2dF and SPIRAL multifibre systems on the Ango-Australian Telescope. It is a bench-mounted, dual-beamed, articulating, all-Schmidt design, using volume phase holographic gratings. The wavelength range is 370-950nm, with spectral resolutions from 1400-10000. Throughput, spectral coverage, and maximum resolution are all more than doubled compared with the existing 2dF spectrographs, and stability is increased by orders of magnitude. These features allow entirely new classes of observation to be undertaken, as well as dramatically improving existing ones. AAOmega is scheduled for delivery and commissioning in Semester 2005B.

HERMES: revisions in the design for a high-resolution multi-element spectrograph for the AAT

The AAO is building an optical high resolution multi-object spectrograph for the AAT for Galactic Archaeology. The instrument has undergone significant design revision over that presented at the 2008 Marseilles SPIE meeting. The current design is a 4-channel VPH-grating based spectrograph providing a nominal spectral resolving power of 28,000 and a high-resolution mode of 45,000 with the use of a slit mask. The total spectral coverage is about 1000 Angstroms for up to 392 simultaneous targets within the 2 degree field of view. Major challenges in the design include the mechanical stability, grating and dichroic efficiencies, and fibre slit relay implementation. An overview of the current design and discussion of these challenges is presented.

First light results from the High Efficiency and Resolution Multi-Element Spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope

Abstract. The High Efficiency and Resolution Multi Element Spectrograph, HERMES, is a facility-class optical spectrograph for the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). It is designed primarily for Galactic Archaeology, the first major attempt to create a detailed understanding of galaxy formation and evolution by studying the history of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The goal of the GALAH survey is to reconstruct the mass assembly history of the Milky Way through a detailed chemical abundance study of one million stars. The spectrograph is based at the AAT and is fed by the existing 2dF robotic fiber positioning system. The spectrograph uses volume phase holographic gratings to achieve a spectral resolving power of 28,000 in standard mode and also provides a high-resolution mode ranging between 40,000 and 50,000 using a slit mask. The GALAH survey requires an SNR greater than 100 for a star brightness of V=14 in an exposure time of one hour. The total spectral coverage of the four channels is about 100 nm between 370 and 1000 nm for up to 392 simultaneous targets within the 2-degree field of view. HERMES has been commissioned over three runs, during bright time in October, November, and December 2013, in parallel with the beginning of the GALAH pilot survey, which started in November 2013. We present the first-light results from the commissioning run and the beginning of the GALAH survey, including performance results such as throughput and resolution, as well as instrument reliability.

CYCLOPS2: the fibre image slicer upgrade for the UCLES high resolution spectrograph

CYCLOPS2 is an upgrade for the UCLES high resolution spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope, scheduled for commissioning in semester 2012A. By replacing the 5 mirror Coud´e train with a Cassegrain mounted fibre-based image slicer CYCLOPS2 simultaneously provides improved throughput, reduced aperture losses and increased spectral resolution. Sixteen optical fibres collect light from a 5.0 arcsecond2 area of sky and reformat it into the equivalent of a 0.6 arcsecond wide slit, delivering a spectral resolution of R= 70000 and up to twice as much flux as the standard 1 arcsecond slit of the Coud´e train. CYCLOPS2 also adds support for simultaneous ThAr wavelength calibration via a dedicated fibre. CYCLOPS2 consists of three main components, the fore-optics unit, fibre bundle and slit unit. The fore optics unit incorporates magnification optics and a lenslet array and is designed to mount to the CURE Cassegrain instrument interface, which provides acquisition, guiding and calibration facilities. The fibre bundle transports the light from the Cassegrain focus to the UCLES spectrograph at Coud´e and also includes a fibre mode scrambler. The slit unit consists of the fibre slit and relay optics to project an image of the slit onto the entrance aperture of the UCLES spectrograph. CYCLOPS2 builds on experience with the first generation CYCLOPS fibre system, which we also describe in this paper. We present the science case for an image slicing fibre feed for echelle spectroscopy and describe the design of CYCLOPS and CYCLOPS2.

Concepts for a high-resolution multi-object spectrograph for galactic archeology on the Anglo-Australian Telescope

Mapping out stellar families to trace the evolutionary star formation history of the Milky Way requires a spectroscopic facility able to deliver high spectral resolution (R≥30k) with both good wavelength coverage (~400 Ang) and target multiplex advantage (~400 per 2 degree field). Such a facility can survey 1,200,000 bright stars over 10,000 square degrees in about 400 nights with a 4-meter aperture telescope. Presented are the results of a conceptual design study for such a spectrograph, which is under development as the next major instrument for the Anglo-Australian Observatory. The current design (that builds upon the AAOmega system) makes use of a White Pupil collimator and an R3 echelle that is matched to the existing AAOmega cameras. The fibre slit can be reconfigured to illuminate the Pupil relay side of the collimator mirror bypassing the echelle, thus preserving the lower dispersion modes of the AAOmega spectrograph. Other spectrograph options initially considered include use of an anamorphic collimator that reduces the required dispersion to that achievable with VPH grating technology or possible use of a double-pass VPH grating.

Optical design for IRIS2: the AAT's next infrared spectrometer

IRIS2 will provide direct imaging and low dispersion spectroscopy on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) using a 1K by 1K HgCdTe array and be capable of a future upgrade - by installing a new camera - to use a 2K by 2K array. It will be used primarily with the f/8 telescope configuration but can also be used with f/15 and f/36 configurations. The optics will be entirely transmissive with all spherical surfaces. The collimator will have four elements and the camera, five. With a 50mm collimated beam diameter and an f/2.2 camera, the 1K array will provide a field 7.6 arcmin square with pixels equivalent to 0.45 arcsec. If a 2K array is fitted later, an f/4 camera will give an 8.0 arcmin square field with pixels 0.24 arcsec square. Zemax was used to optimize the design as a multi-configuration system, so that a balance was maintained between direct imaging and spectroscopic performance and between the three atmospheric windows. For direct imaging with the f/2.2 camera, a diffraction based calculation indicates the energy inside a circle inscribed within one pixel is always better than 80 percent of that for a diffraction limited system. Particular care was taken to provide good imaging of the telescope pupil onto the cold stop in K.

Development and construction of MAROON-X

We report on the development and construction of a new fiber-fed, red-optical, high-precision radial-velocity spectrograph for one of the twin 6.5m Magellan Telescopes in Chile. MAROON-X will be optimized to find and characterize rocky planets around nearby M dwarfs with an intrinsic per measurement noise floor below 1ms-1. The instrument is based on a commercial echelle spectrograph customized for high stability and throughput. A microlens array based pupil slicer and double scrambler, as well as a rubidium-referenced etalon comb calibrator will turn this spectrograph into a high-precision radial-velocity machine. MAROON-X will undergo extensive lab tests in the second half of 2016.

Integrating the HERMES spectrograph for the AAT

The High Efficiency and Resolution Multi Element Spectrograph, HERMES is an optical spectrograph designed primarily for the GALAH, Galactic Archeology Survey, the first major attempt to create a detailed understanding of galaxy formation and evolution by studying the history of our own galaxy, the Milky Way1. The goal of the GALAH survey is to reconstruct the mass assembly history of the of the Milky way, through a detailed spatially tagged abundance study of one million stars in the Milky Way. The spectrograph will be based at the Anglo Australian Telescope (AAT) and be fed with the existing 2dF robotic fibre positioning system. The spectrograph uses VPH-gratings to achieve a spectral resolving power of 28,000 in standard mode and also provides a high resolution mode ranging between 40,000 to 50,000 using a slit mask. The GALAH survey requires a SNR greater than 100 aiming for a star brightness of V=14. The total spectral coverage of the four channels is about 100nm between 370 and 1000nm for up to 392 simultaneous targets within the 2 degree field of view. Current efforts are focused on manufacturing and integration. The delivery date of spectrograph at the telescope is scheduled for 2013. A performance prediction is presented and a complete overview of the status of the HERMES spectrograph is given. This paper details the following specific topics: The approach to AIT, the manufacturing and integration of the large mechanical frame, the opto-mechanical slit assembly, collimator optics and cameras, VPH gratings, cryostats, fibre cable assembly, instrument control hardware and software, data reduction.

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.

The SOAR integral field unit spectrograph optical design and IFU implementation

SIFS is a lenslet/fiber Integral Field Unit Spectrograph which has just been delivered to the SOAR 4.1m telescope in Chile. The instrument was designed and constructed by the National Laboratory of Astrophysics (MCT/LNA) in collaboration with the Department of Astronomy of the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Sao Paulo (IAG/USP). It is designed to operate at both the raw Nasmyth and the SAM (the SOAR Adaptive Optics Module) which delivers GLAO-corrected images in optical wave-bands longward of 500nm. The lenslets have a 1mm pitch feeding a set of 1,300 fibres in a 26-by-50 format. Sets of deployable fore-optics convert the f/16.5 input beam to give samplings between ~0.1 and 0.3 arcsec. The fiber output is in the form of a curved, pupil-centric, long-slit which is fed into a bench-mounted spectrograph. An off-axis Maksutov collimates the beam onto a set of VPH gratings and thence imaged by an f/3 refractive camera onto a 2-by-1 mosaic of 2k-by-4k E2V CCDs. The camera is articulated over a >90 deg. angle to allow the grating/camera combination to operate in a transmission Littrow configuration. The wavelength range is limited by the CCDs to the 350 to 1000nm range with spectral resolution maxima of ~20,000. The paper will review the optical design of the spectrograph and the methods used to fabricate the lenslet/fiber IFU.