Mark P. Mulligan

Designing the optimal semi-warm NIR spectrograph for SALT via detailed thermal analysis

The near infrared (NIR) upgrade to the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), RSS/NIR, extends the spectral coverage of all modes of the optical spectrograph. The RSS/NIR is a low to medium resolution spectrograph with broadband, spectropolarimetric, and Fabry-Perot imaging capabilities. The optical and NIR arms can be used simultaneously to extend spectral coverage from 3200 Å to approximately 1.6 μm. Both arms utilize high efficiency volume phase holographic gratings via articulating gratings and cameras. The NIR camera incorporates a HAWAII-2RG detector with an Epps optical design consisting of 6 spherical elements and providing subpixel rms image sizes of 7.5 ± 1.0 μm over all wavelengths and field angles. The NIR spectrograph is semi-warm, sharing a common slit plane and partial collimator with the optical arm. A pre-dewar, cooled to below ambient temperature, houses the final NIR collimator optic, the grating/Fabry-Perot etalon, the polarizing beam splitter, and the first three camera optics. The last three camera elements, blocking filters, and detector are housed in a cryogenically cooled dewar. The semi-warm design concept has long been proposed as an economical way to extend optical instruments into the NIR, however, success has been very limited. A major portion of our design effort entails a detailed thermal analysis using non-sequential ray tracing to interactively guide the mechanical design and determine a truly realizable long wavelength cutoff over which astronomical observations will be sky-limited. In this paper we describe our thermal analysis, design concepts for the staged cooling scheme, and results to be incorporated into the overall mechanical design and baffling.

Project status of the Robert Stobie spectrograph near infrared instrument (RSS-NIR) for SALT

The Robert Stobie Spectrograph Near Infrared Instrument (RSS-NIR), a prime focus facility instrument for the 11-meter Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), is well into its laboratory integration and testing phase. RSS-NIR will initially provide imaging and single or multi-object medium resolution spectroscopy in an 8 arcmin field of view at wavelengths of 0.9 - 1.7 μm. Future modes, including tunable Fabry-Perot spectral imaging and polarimetry, have been designed in and can be easily added later. RSS-NIR will mate to the existing visible wavelength RSS-VIS via a dichroic beamsplitter, allowing simultaneous operation of the two instruments in all modes. Multi-object spectroscopy covering a wavelength range of 0.32 - 1.7 μm on 10-meter class telescopes is a rare capability and once all the existing VIS modes are incorporated into the NIR, the combined RSS will provide observational modes that are completely unique. The VIS and NIR instruments share a common telescope focal plane, and slit mask for spectroscopic modes, and collimator optics that operate at ambient observatory temperature. Beyond the dichroic beamsplitter, RSS-NIR is enclosed in a pre-dewar box operating at -40 °C, and within that is a cryogenic dewar operating at 120 K housing the detector and final camera optics and filters. This semi-warm configuration with compartments at multiple operating temperatures poses a number of design and implementation challenges. In this paper we present overviews of the RSSNIR instrument design and solutions to design challenges, measured performance of optical components, detector system optimization results, and an update on the overall project status.

Mechanical design of the near-infrared arm of the Robert Stobie Spectrograph for SALT

The Robert Stobie Spectrograph Near Infrared (RSS/NIR) upgrade for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) extends the capabilities of the visible arm of RSS into the NIR. The RSS/NIR instrument is at the prime focus of SALT. It is a versatile spectrograph with broadband imaging, spectropolarimetric, and Fabry-Perot imaging capabilities. The multiple modes and prime focus location introduce interesting engineering considerations. The spectrograph has an ambient temperature collimator, cooled (-40ºC) dispersers and camera and a cryogenic detector. Many of the mechanisms are required to operate within the cooled and cryogenic environments. The RSS/ NIR upgrade includes the following mechanisms; an active flexure compensating fold mirror, a filter exchange mechanism, a Volume Phase Holographic VPH grating exchange and rotation mechanism, an etalon inserter, a beam splitter inserter, an articulating camera, internal camera focus and a cutoff filter exchange wheel. This paper gives an overview of the mechanical design and focuses on some of the unique testing and prototyping tasks.

A near infrared integral field spectrograph for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)

Washburn Astronomical Laboratories of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Astronomy Department is developing a near infrared (NIR) integral field spectrograph for the 11-meter Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). This instrument will extend SALT’s capabilities into the NIR, providing medium resolution spectroscopy over the wavelength range of 0.8 to 1.7 microns. The integral field unit (IFU) is optimized for sampling nearby galaxies with an on-sky hexagonal extent of 24 x 28 arcsec containing 217 fibers of 1.33 arcsec diameter (median SALT seeing is 1.5 arcsec). Two separate blocks of 15 sky fibers are adjustable to distances ranging 54 to 165 arcsec from the IFU. This spectrograph, formerly known as RSS-NIR, was originally designed to mount at prime focus coupled to an optical spectrograph through a dichroic beam-splitter. The need to simplify telescope operations at prime focus prompted its reconfiguration into a fiber-fed, cooled, bench spectrograph, resulting in lower instrumental thermal background with a separate cooled collimator, stabilization of the pupil illumination in the spectrograph due to the azimuthal scrambling properties of fibers, and higher throughput at short wavelengths. Field-flattening and sky subtraction with the existing slit spectrograph has been challenging due to SALT’s varying pupil as the instrument payload tracks across the fixed primary mirror during observations. Simulations show that fiber scrambling of the pupil will improve the achievable sky subtraction residuals by 1-2 orders of magnitude. In this paper we present an overview of the reconfigured spectrograph design, its improved expected performance, and the new science drivers for NIR integral field spectroscopy.

A Near Infrared Integral Field spectrograph (NIR) for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT): mechanical design

Washburn Astronomical Laboratories in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Astronomy Department is developing a near infrared (NIR) integral field spectrograph for the 11-meter Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). This instrument will extend SALT’s capabilities into the NIR, providing medium resolution spectroscopy over the wavelength range of 0.8 to 1.7 microns. Formerly known as RSS-NIR, this spectrograph was originally designed to mount at the prime focus of SALT and share a common collimator and spaceframe structure with the visible wavelength Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS-VIS). However, to maximize performance of both the instrument and telescope, its configuration has been changed into a fiber fed instrument located in the spectrometer room below the telescope7. This change necessitated the addition of several new components, including a separate collimator; a fiber integral field unit (IFU); a means to inject light from the telescope into the fibers; and a cooled enclosure to house the spectrograph, collimator, and pseudo-slit end of the fiber cable. The new collimator consists of four refractive elements, one of which is calcium fluoride, and requires a new lens barrel and support structure. The new fiber system incorporates a hexagonally arranged 217-fiber IFU and two mini-bundles containing 15 sky fibers each. The IFU is fabricated out of a two-part clam-shell stainless steel ferrule. The existing SALT fiber instrument feed (FIF) mechanism is adapted to position the IFU and sky bundles on sky, while a slave motion on flexure pivots ensures that the fibers remain telecentric. A 42-m protected fiber cable spans the distance between the telescope prime focus and the pseudo-slit in the spectrometer room. The cable is constructed out of four 25mm outer diameter flexible conduits. Within the conduit, each fiber is individually protected in its own Teflon tube. The route of the fiber cable through the telescope requires careful accommodation of controlled bending. The pseudo-slit comprises a line of mini v-groove blocks attached to the slit plate. The slit, collimator, and spectrograph are housed inside a 40 cold enclosure in the SALT spectrometer room. The cooling system, developed by Norlake Scientific to our specifications, carefully controls against thermal shock and humidity. This paper describes the design, integration, and laboratory verification of the reconfigured spectrograph system, as well as our experiences operating in a -40 ambient pressure environment.

Mechanical and thermal design challenges in building a semi-cold near infrared spectrograph: the Robert Stobie -Near Infrared Spectrograph for SALT

The near infrared upgrade to the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS/NIR) for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) extends the capabilities of the visible arm RSS into the Near Infrared (NIR). In order to extend into the NIR range, the upgrade components of the instrument are required to be cooled. Thus the NIR arm is predominantly housed in the instrument pre-dewar which is cooled to -40°C, at ambient pressure. The multiple modes, prime focus location and partially cooled instrument introduce interesting engineering considerations. The NIR spectrograph has an ambient temperature collimator, a cooled (-40°C) dispersers and camera and a cryogenic detector. The cryogenic dewar and many of the mechanisms are required to operate within the cooled, atmospheric environment. Cooling the pre-dewar to - 40°C at prime focus of the telescope is also an engineering challenge. Mechanical and thermal aspects of the design are addressed in this paper with a particular emphasis on the unique considerations of building a semi-warm infrared spectrograph.

High Spectral Resolution IR Instrument Developments for CLARREO

The infrared component of the CLimate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) benchmark climate system under development at NASA will include on-orbit standards and test equipment to directly verify very high end-to-end instrument accuracy on-orbit.

The infrared cloud ice radiometer (IRCIR)

The Submillimeter-wave and Infrared Ice Cloud Experiment (SIRICE) concept would provide global measurements of ice water path (IWP - the vertically integrated mass of ice particles per unit area), and weighted mean mass particle diameter (Dme). The SIRICE payload consists of two instruments, the Sub-millimeter/Millimeter (SM4) Radiometer, and the Infrared Cloud Ice Radiometer (IRCIR). IRCIR is a compact, low-cost, multi-spectral, wide field of view pushbroom infrared imaging radiometer. IRCIR will employ four IR sensor assemblies to produce 90° cross-track (contiguous along-track) coverage in three spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 0.6 km at nadir. Each IR sensor assembly consists of an uncooled microbolometer focal plane array (FPA), associated sensor core electronics, a stripe filter fixed at the FPA, and an IR lens assembly. A single scene mirror is used to provide two Earth view angles, as well as calibration views of space and the on-board calibration blackbody. The two Earth view angles will be used for stereo cloud height retrievals.