Valdemaro Biliotti

NICS: The TNG Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer

NICS (the Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer) is a cooled near-infrared camera{spectrometer that has been developed by the Arcetri Infrared Group at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, in collaboration with the CAISMI-CNR for the TNG (the Italian National Telescope Galileo at La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). As NICS is in its scientic commissioning phase, we report its observing capabilities in the near{infrared bands at the TNG, along with the measured performance and the limiting magnitudes. We also describe some technical details of the project, such as cryogenics, mechanics, and the system which executes data acquisition and control, along with the related software.

Adaptive secondary mirror for the 6.5-m conversion of the Multiple Mirror Telescope: first laboratory testing results

We present the first results of test performed on a reduced size adaptive secondary prototype named P36. The full size unit, named MMT336, is ready to be assembled and it is planned to install it at the 6.5m conversion of the Multiple Mirror Telescope by the end of this year. The design of the final unit consists of: a convex thin deformable mirror whose figure is controlled by 336 electro-magnetic force actuators, a thick reference shell and a third aluminum shell used for actuator support and cooling. The force actuator response function is adjusted using both open and closed loop compensation to obtain an equivalent position actuator thanks to nearly co-located capacitive position sensors. The digital real-time control and the unit monitoring is done using custom-made electronics based on DSPs. The preliminary dynamical test aimed at identifying the P36 mirror response function to obtain a proper dynamics compensation were successful. In fact two main results have been obtained: 1) an accurate identification of the feedforward matrix used to control the mirror 2) settling time of approximately 0.5 ms, well within the specifications. We also complement these lab results with results obtained from simulations of the full size mirror dynamics.

Adaptive secondary P30 prototype: laboratory results

We present the result of electrical and optical measurements performed on a reduced size adaptive secondary prototype named P30. The design of this concave deformable mirror consists of a thin deformable glass shell whose figure is controlled by electromagnetic actuators and capacitive position senors. Static measurements of the mirror optical figure, performed with a commercial interferometer, have provided the calibration of the internal position sensor. Dynamic test were performed to experimentally derive the mechanical response of the mirror to the electromagnetic actuators in order to design the mirror closed loop control law. The test, although performed on a reduced scale, are representative of the complexity and capabilities of the full size mirror. In fact, all the key-elements of the full size mirror, i.e. central supporting membrane, actuator spacing closed loop control of the device, have been implemented on the prototype.

A preliminary overview of the multiconjugate adaptive optics module for the E-ELT

The multi-conjugate adaptive optics module for the European Extremely Large Telescope has to provide a corrected field of medium to large size (up to 2 arcmin), over the baseline wavelength range 0.8-2.4 μm. The current design is characterized by two post-focal deformable mirrors, that complement the correction provided by the adaptive telescope; the wavefront sensing is performed by means of a high-order multiple laser guide star wavefront sensor and by a loworder natural guide star wavefront sensor. The present status of a two years study for the advanced conceptual design of this module is reported.

LBT adaptive secondary electronics

The adaptive secondary mirror is a fundamental part in the LBT adaptive optics architecture. The thin, continuous mirror is controlled by 672 electromagnetic actuators (voice coil motors) with local position feedback (capacitive sensor) and allows to perform from tip-tilt to high order wavefront correction, but also chopping. The adaptive secondary is controlled by a DSP-based dedicated electronics. The control electronics does not only implement the mirror position control tasks, but does also realize the Real Time Reconstructor (RTR). The control system, while maintaining a similar architecture to the MMT adaptive secondary one, shows a substantial enhancement in terms of computational power, rising in the range of hundreds of Gigaflops. This allows to minimize the computational time required to apply the wavefront correction pattern from the wavefront sensor acquisition, even in case of high order reconstructor dynamics. The electronics is housed in compact cooled crates placed in the adaptive secondary hub. Apart from the power supply lines, it is connected to the other components of the adaptive control system just through a very high speed fiber optic link, capable of 2.9 Gigabit/s of actual data throughput. The control system has been designed according to modular concept, so that the number of channels can be easily increased or reduced for adapting the electronics to different correctors. A substantial effort has been dedicated to the flexibility and on-field configurability of system. In this frame, the same electronics (or part of it) can be easily adapted to become the building block for the data processing unit required for Multi-Conjugated Adaptive Optics

GIANO-TNG spectroscopy of red supergiants in the young star cluster RSGC2

Aims. The inner disk of the Galaxy has a number of young star clusters dominated by red supergiants that are heavily obscured by dust extinction and observable only at infrared wavelengths. These clusters are important tracers of the recent star formation and chemical enrichment history in the inner Galaxy. Methods. During the technical commissioning and as a first science verification of the GIANO spectrograph at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, we secured high-resolution (R � 50 000) near-infrared spectra of three red supergiants in the young Scutum cluster RSGC2. Results. Taking advantage of the full YJHK spectral coverage of GIANO in a single exposure, we were able to identify several tens of atomic and molecular lines suitable for chemical abundance determinations. By means of spectral synthesis and line equivalent width measurements, we obtained abundances of Fe and other iron-peak elements such as V, Cr, Ni, of alpha (O, Mg, Si, Ca and Ti) and other light elements (C, N, Na, Al, K, Sc), and of some s-process elements (Y, Sr). We found iron abundances between half and one third solar and solar-scaled [X/Fe] abundance patterns of iron-peak, alpha and most of the light elements, consistent with a thin-disk chemistry. We found a depletion of [C/Fe] and enhancement of [N/Fe], consistent with CN burning, and low 12 C/ 13 C abundance ratios (between 9 and 11), requiring extra-mixing processes in the stellar interiors during the post-main-sequence evolution. Finally, we found a slight [Sr/Fe] enhancement and a slight [Y/Fe] depletion (by a factor of ≤2), with respect to solar.

Dedicated flexible electronics for adaptive secondary control

In the frame of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) adaptive secondary project, we developed a new dedicated electronics that controls the thin shell by means of 672 force actuators and capacitive sensor, while performing also the Real Time Reconstructor (RTR) computations. Within the adaptive optics system, the Slope Computer is also implemented using the same electronics, directly interfaced to the wavefront sensor CCD output by means of built-in fast parallel I/O channels. The system design has been tailored to balance the computational power, in the range of hundreds of Gigaflops, with an effective and time-deterministic real-time communication scheme. Diagnostic and maintenance are performed through an additional, fully independent communication line. Modularity, flexibility and remote in-system reconfigurability make this compact electronic suitable for real time adaptive optics control systems within a wide range of size and complexity, up to several thousands of actuators. In this paper we describe the general hardware and software architecture and the application results of this electronics within the LBT first light adaptive optics system.

The GIANO spectrometer: towards its first light at the TNG

GIANO is a high resolution (R50,000) IR spectrograph which provides a quasi-complete coverage of the 0.95- 2.5μm wavelengths range in a single exposure. The instrument was integrated and tested in Arcetri-INAF (Florence, Italy) and will be commisioned at the 3.58m TNG Italian telescope in La Palma. The major scientific goals include the search for rocky planets with habitable conditions around low-mass stars, quantitative spectroscopy of brown dwarfs, accurate chemical abundances of high metallicity stars and stellar clusters. This presentation describes the status of the instrument and presents the first results obtained in laboratory during the acceptance tests.

Wavefront sensor design for the GMT natural guide star AO system

The paper presents the preliminary design of theNat ural Guide Star Wavefront Sensor for the single conjugate AO system of the GMT telescope. The NGS Wavefront Sensor (NGWS), already identified as a pyramid sensor, will be in charge of the entire wavefront error measurement namely atmospheric turbulence and telescope aberrations, including the segment differential piston error. The paper describes the WFS opto-mechanical design with particular emphasis on the WFS board. Numerical simulations of the GMT NGS AO system are performed taking into account the main characteristics of the considered WFS unit. The simulations take into account correction of the atmospheric perturbation and control of the differential pistons of the GMT segments.

Conceptual design and performance of the multiconjugate adaptive optics module for the European Extremely Large Telescope

The Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY (MAORY) for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) provides a corrected field of view of up to 2 arcmin diameter over the wavelength range 0.8-2.4 μm. It is expected to achieve a correction of high quality and uniformity with high sky coverage: with a seeing of 0.8 arcsec in the visible, the expected Strehl Ratio averaged over a 1 arcmin field is approximately 50% at 2.16 μm wavelength over 50% of the sky at the Galactic Pole. Wavefront correction is obtained by means of the E-ELT adaptive mirrors M4/M5 and of two post-focal deformable mirrors conjugated at 4km and 12.7km from the telescope pupil. Wavefront sensing is performed by 6 Sodium laser guide stars and by 3 natural guide stars, used to measure atmospheric and windshake tilt and to provide a reference for the focus and for the low-order aberrations induced by the Sodium layer. MAORY is located on the E-ELT Nasmyth platform and has a gravity invariant port, feeding the high angular resolution camera MICADO, and a lateral port for a detached instrument as the infrared spectrograph SIMPLE.