J. L. Avilés

MEGARA, the new intermediate-resolution optical IFU and MOS for GTC: getting ready for the telescope

MEGARA (Multi-Espectrógrafo en GTC de Alta Resolución para Astronomía) is an optical Integral-Field Unit (IFU) and Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) designed for the GTC 10.4m telescope in La Palma that is being built by a Consortium led by UCM (Spain) that also includes INAOE (Mexico), IAA-CSIC (Spain), and UPM (Spain). The instrument is currently finishing AIV and will be sent to GTC on November 2016 for its on-sky commissioning on April 2017. The MEGARA IFU fiber bundle (LCB) covers 12.5x11.3 arcsec2 with a spaxel size of 0.62 arcsec while the MEGARA MOS mode allows observing up to 92 objects in a region of 3.5x3.5 arcmin2 around the IFU. The IFU and MOS modes of MEGARA will provide identical intermediate-to-high spectral resolutions (RFWHM~6,000, 12,000 and 18,700, respectively for the low-, mid- and high-resolution Volume Phase Holographic gratings) in the range 3700-9800ÅÅ. An x-y mechanism placed at the pseudo-slit position allows (1) exchanging between the two observing modes and (2) focusing the spectrograph for each VPH setup. The spectrograph is a collimator-camera system that has a total of 11 VPHs simultaneously available (out of the 18 VPHs designed and being built) that are placed in the pupil by means of a wheel and an insertion mechanism. The custom-made cryostat hosts a 4kx4k 15-μm CCD. The unique characteristics of MEGARA in terms of throughput and versatility and the unsurpassed collecting are of GTC make of this instrument the most efficient tool to date to analyze astrophysical objects at intermediate spectral resolutions. In these proceedings we present a summary of the instrument characteristics and the results from the AIV phase. All subsystems have been successfully integrated and the system-level AIV phase is progressing as expected.

MEGARA optical manufacturing process

MEGARA is the future visible integral-field and multi-object spectrograph for the GTC 10.4-m telescope located in La Palma. INAOE is a member of the MEGARA Consortium and it is in charge of the Optics Manufacturing work package. MEGARA passed the Optics Detailed Design Review in May 2013, and the blanks of the main optics have been already ordered and their manufacturing is in progress. Except for the optical fibers and microlenses, the complete MEGARA optical system will be manufactured in Mexico, shared between the workshops of INAOE and CIO. This includes a field lens, a 5-lenses collimator, a 7-lenses camera and a complete set of volume phase holographic gratings with 36 flat windows and 24 prisms, being all these elements very large and complex. Additionally, the optical tests and the complete assembly of the camera and collimator subsystems will be carried out in Mexico. Here we describe the current status of the optics manufacturing process.

Optical Seeing at Sierra Negra

Optical seeing measurements carried out at Sierra Negra, the site of the Large Millimeter Telescope, are reported. The site, one of the highest peaks in central Mexico, offers good coverage of the northern and southern hemispheres, and we have undertaken several campaigns to investigate the astronomical potential of the site in the optical. Here we report on our campaign to establish the seeing quality of the site. We present data from the first three campaigns of optical seeing monitoring covering 2000 February to 2002 May, carried out with a Differential Image Motion Monitor. The results clearly indicate subarcsecond seeing, better statistics during the dry season, and no dependence on the time of night. We find no dependence of our results on the integration time used.

MEGARA main optics opto-mechanics

MEGARA is the future integral-field and multi-object spectrograph for the GTC 10.4m telescope located in the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma. INAOE is a member of the MEGARA Consortium and it is in charge of the Optics Manufacturing work package. In addition to the manufacturing of 73 elements, the work package includes the opto-mechanics i.e. the opto-mechanical design, manufacture, tests and integration of the complete assembly of the main optics composed by the collimator and camera subsystems. MEGARA passed the Optics Detailed Design Review in May 2013 and will have the Detailed Design Review of the complete instrument early 2014. Here we describe the detailed design of the collimator and camera barrels. We also present the finite elements models developed to simulate the behavior of the barrel, sub-cells and other mechanical elements. These models verify that the expected stress fields and the gravitational displacements on the lenses are compatible with the optical quality tolerances. The design is finished and ready for fabrication.

First scientific observations with MEGARA at GTC

On June 25th 2017, the new intermediate-resolution optical IFU and MOS of the 10.4-m GTC had its first light. As part of the tests carried out to verify the performance of the instrument in its two modes (IFU and MOS) and 18 spectral setups (identical number of VPHs with resolutions R=6000-20000 from 0.36 to 1 micron) a number of astronomical objects were observed. These observations show that MEGARA@GTC is called to fill a niche of high-throughput, intermediateresolution IFU and MOS observations of extremely-faint narrow-lined objects. Lyman-α absorbers, star-forming dwarfs or even weak absorptions in stellar spectra in our Galaxy or in the Local Group can now be explored to a new level. Thus, the versatility of MEGARA in terms of observing modes and spectral resolution and coverage will allow GTC to go beyond current observational limits in either depth or precision for all these objects. The results to be presented in this talk clearly demonstrate the potential of MEGARA in this regard.

MEGARA, the R=6000-20000 IFU and MOS of GTC

MEGARA is the new generation IFU and MOS optical spectrograph built for the 10.4m Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC). The project was developed by a consortium led by UCM (Spain) that also includes INAOE (Mexico), IAA-CSIC (Spain) and UPM (Spain). The instrument arrived to GTC on March 28th 2017 and was successfully integrated and commissioned at the telescope from May to August 2017. During the on-sky commissioning we demonstrated that MEGARA is a powerful and robust instrument that provides on-sky intermediate-to-high spectral resolutions RFWHM ~ 6,000, 12,000 and 20,000 at an unprecedented efficiency for these resolving powers in both its IFU and MOS modes. The IFU covers 12.5 x 11.3 arcsec2 while the MOS mode allows observing up to 92 objects in a region of 3.5 x 3.5 arcmin2. In this paper we describe the instrument main subsystems, including the Folded-Cassegrain unit, the fiber link, the spectrograph, the cryostat, the detector and the control subsystems, and its performance numbers obtained during commissioning where the fulfillment of the instrument requirements is demonstrated.

LOLAS-2: Redesign of an Optical Turbulence Profiler with High Altitude-resolution

We present the development, tests and first results of the second generation Low Layer Scidar (LOLAS-2). This instrument constitutes a strongly improved version of the prototype Low Layer Scidar, which is aimed at the measurement of optical turbulence profiles close to the ground, with high altitude-resolution. The method is based on the Generalised Scidar principle which consists in taking double-star scintillation images on a defocused pupil plane and calculating in real time the autocovariance of the scintillation. The main components are an open-truss 40-cm Ritchey-Chretien telescope, a german-type equatorial mount, an Electron Multiplying CCD camera and a dedicated acquisition and real-time data processing software. The new optical design of LOLAS-2 is significantly simplified compared with the prototype. The experiments carried out to test the permanence of the image within the useful zone of the detector and the stability of the telescope focus show that LOLAS-2 can function without the use of the autoguiding and autofocus algorithms that were developed for the prototype version. Optical turbulence profiles obtained with the new Low Layer Scidar have the best altitude-resolution ever achieved with Scidar-like techniques (6.3 m). The simplification of the optical layout and the improved mechanical properties of the telescope and mount make of LOLAS-2 a more robust instrument.

New generation LOLAS: Redesign of an Optical Turbulence Profiler with High Altitude-Resolution

We present the instrument and first results of a Low Layer SCIDAR (Scintillation Detection and Ranging), called new generation LOLAS (LOLAS 2), which consists of the optical coupling of a Ritchey-Chretien telescope and an EMCCD camera, and allows the measurements of optical turbulence profiles in the atmosphere from ground level with high altitude-resolution. The system is designed for widely separated double star targets, which enables a high altitude resolution of 5 ≤ Δh ≤ 35 meters above the first kilometer , measured from ground level. The first results were obtained in June and November 2013, and May 2014 at the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional de San Pedro Martir (OAN-SPM), Mexico.