Mary Barreto

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.

EMIR at the GTC: results on the commissioning at the telescope

We report the results on the EMIR1 (Espectrógrafo Multiobjeto Infra-Rojo) performances after the commissioning period of the instrument at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). EMIR is one of the first common user instruments for the GTC, the 10 meter telescope operating at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). EMIR is being built by a Consortium of Spanish and French institutes led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). EMIR is primarily designed to be operated as a MOS in the K band, but offers a wide range of observing modes, including imaging and spectroscopy, both long slit and multiobject, in the wavelength range 0.9 to 2.5 μm. The development and fabrication of EMIR is funded by GRANTECAN and the Plan Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica (National Plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Spain). After an extensive and intensive period of system verification at the IAC, EMIR was shipped to the GTC on May 2016 for its integration at the Nasmyth platform. Once in the observatory, several tests were conducted to ensure the functionality of EMIR at the telescope, in particular that of the ECS (EMIR Control System) which has to be fully embedded into the GCS (GTC Control System) so as to become an integral part of it. During the commissioning, the main capabilities of EMIR and its combined operation with the GTC are tested and the ECS are modified to its final form. This contribution reports on the details of the EMIR operation at the GTC obtained so far, on the first commissioning period.

LIRIS (long-slit intermediate-resolution infrared spectrograph): project status

LIRIS is a near-IR intermediate resolution spectrograph with added capabilities for multi-object, imaging, coronography, and polarimetry. This instrument is now being constructed at the IAC, and upon complexion will be installed on the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos. The optical system uses lenses and is based on a classical collimator/camera design. Grisms are used as the dispersion elements. The plate scale matches the median seeing at the ORM. The detector is a Hawaii 1024 X 1024 HgCdTe array operating at 60K.

Results of the verification of the NIR MOS EMIR

EMIR is one of the first common user instruments for the GTC, the 10 meter telescope operating at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). EMIR is being built by a Consortium of Spanish and French institutes led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). EMIR is primarily designed to be operated as a MOS in the K band, but offers a wide range of observing modes, including imaging and spectroscopy, both long slit and multiobject, in the wavelength range 0.9 to 2.5 μm. This contribution reports on the results achieved so far during the verification phase at the IAC prior to its shipment to the GTC for being commissioned, which is due by mid 2015. After a long period of design and fabrication, EMIR finally entered into its integration phase by mid 2013. Soon after this, the verification phase at the IAC was initiated aimed at configuring and tuning the EMIR functions, mostly the instrument control system, which includes a sophisticated on line data reduction pipeline, and demonstrating the fulfillment of the top level requirements. We have designed an ambitious verification plan structured along the three kind of detectors at hand: the MUX and the engineering and scientific grade arrays. The EMIR subsystems are being integrated as they are needed for the purposes of the verification plan. In the first stage, using the MUX, the full optical system, but with a single dispersive element out of the three which form the EMIR suite, the two large wheels mounting the filters and the pseudo-grisms, plus the detector translation unit holding the MUX, were mounted. This stage was mainly devoted to learn about the capabilities of the instrument, define different settings for its basic operation modes and test the accuracy, repeatability and reliability of the mechanisms. In the second stage, using the engineering Hawaii2 FPA, the full set of pseudo-grisms and band filters are mounted, which means that the instrument is fully assembled except for the cold slit unit, a robotic reconfigurable multislit mask system capable of forming multislit pattern of 55 different slitlets in the EMIR focal plane. This paper will briefly describe the principal units and features of the EMIR instrument as the main results of the verification performed so far are discussed. The development and fabrication of EMIR is funded by GRANTECAN and the Plan Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica (National Plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Spain).

EMIR data factory system

EMIR (Espectrógrafo Multiobjeto Infrarrojo) is a wide-field, near-infrared, multi-object spectrograph, with image capabilities, which will be located at the Nasmyth focus of GTC (Gran Telescopio Canarias). It will allow observers to obtain many intermediate resolution spectra simultaneously, in the nIR bands Z, J, H, K. A multi-slit mask unit will be used for target acquisition. This paper shows an overview of EMIR Data Factory System which main functionality is to receive raw images from DAS (Data Acquisition system), collect FITS header keywords, store images to database and propagate images to other GCS (GTC Control System) components to produce astronomical data. This system follows the standards defined by the telescope to permit the integration of this software on the GCS. The Data Factory System needs the DAS, the Sequencer, GUI and the Monitor Manager subsystems to operate. DAS generates images and sends them to the Data Factory. Sequencer and GUI (Graphical User Interface) provide information about instrument and observing program. The Monitor Manager supplies information about telescope and instrument state.

EMIR high-dynamic range readout modes

EMIR is the NIR imager and multiobject spectrograph being built as a common user instrument for the GTC and it is currently entering in the integration and verification phase at system level. EMIR is being built by a Consortium of Spanish and French institutes led by the IAC. In this paper we describe the readout modes of EMIR detector, a Hawaii2 FPA, after two full calibrations campaigns. Besides the standard set of modes (reset-read, CDS, Fowler, Follow-up the ramp), the modified SDSU-III hardware and home made software will also offer high dynamic range readout modes, which will improve the ability of the instrument to sound densely populated areas which often are made of objects with large differences in brightness. These new high dynamic range modes are: single readout with very short integration time, window mode and combination of both. The results show that the new modes behave linearly with different exposition times, improve the maximum frame rate and increase the saturation limit in image mode for EMIR instrument.

Mechanics of LIRIS (long-slit intermediate-resolution infrared spectrograph) at first commissioning

LIRIS is a near-infrared intermediate resolution spectrograph with added capabilities for multi-slit, imaging, coronography, and polarimetry, developed by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). It will be a common user instrument for the Cassegrain focus of the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma. At its first commissioning, that was held in February 2003, the functionality of the mechanisms (entrance wheel, central wheels and camera wheel) under variable orientation of the telescope was verified, and no thermal nor structural problems arose. The functionality of the mechanical interface with telescope (allows for up to 5 mm of lateral displacements in the attachment plane), of the LIRIS handling trolley, of the transport equipment and of all the equipments used in the integration was also checked. For the second commissioning of LIRIS, which has been held in March 2004, some modifications have been done. The results of both commissionings were satisfactory.

LIRIS (Long-slit Intermediate Resolution Infrared Spectrograph): Assembly Integration and verification

LIRIS is a near-infrared (0.9 - 2.4 microns) intermediate resolution spectrograph (R = 1000-3000) conceived as a common user instrument for the (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) La Palma. LIRIS is now being assembled, integrated and virified at the Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias (IAC). LIRIS will have imaging, long-slit and multi-object spectroscopy working modes. Coronography and polarimetry capabilities will eventually be added. Image capability will allow easy target acquisition.

LIRIS (Long-Slit Intermediate Resolution Infrared Spectrograph)

LIRIS is a near-infrared (0.9–2.4 microns) intermediate resolution spectrograph (R = 1000 – 8000) with added capabilities for multi-object, imaging, coronography, and polarimetry. This instrument is now being constructed at the IAC, and upon complexion will be installed on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos (ORM, La Palma).

ABEL: a near-IR grism spectrometer and camera for the 1.5-m TCS

ABEL is currently at the beginning of the design phase at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canaris. The instrument will be equipped with the 256 X 256 Santa Barbara Research Corporation InSb FPA which will provide a working spectral range from 1 to 5 microns. For image mode three different platescales are envisaged: 0.2 inch/pixel, to be used in the thermal IR to avoid detector saturation; 0.4 inch/pixel, which will allow for sufficient sampling of the median seeing limited images below 2.5 microns; and 1.0 inch/pixel, which will be the standard in spectroscopic operations and during wide field imaging. For spectroscopy, a standard moderate spectral resolution of about 400 will be available in the JHKLM windows, which will be all fully covered in a single exposure. Additional higher spectral resolution is under consideration, which at least double. ABEL will offer a wide variety of slit widths and shapes, ranging from 1 inch to 3 inches, and including dog-leg shape. The thermal design is based on a two stages closed cycle cooler, the first stage being used for the passive optics while the second will cool directly the detector to about 30 to 40 K. The instrument is planned for the late 99 and a major cooperation with the Osservatorio de Arcetri is underway. ABEL will be installed in the f/13.8 Cassegrain focus of the 1.5m Telescopio Carlos Sanchez, at the Spanish Observatorio de El Teide, in the canarian island of Tenerife.