XMS and NG1dF: extreme multiplex spectrographs for wide-field multi-object spectroscopy

Robert Content; Sam Barden; Santiago Becerril; Armin Boehm; Paul Clark; Pedro Costillo; C. Mark Dubbeldam; Tony Farrell; Karl Glazebrook; Roger Haynes; Klaus Meisenheimer; Stan Miziarski; Nikolaos Nikoloudakis; Luis Francisco Prada; Ralf-Rainer Rohloff; Tom Shanks; Ray M. Sharples; Karl Wagner

doi:10.1117/12.857932

15 July 2010 XMS and NG1dF: extreme multiplex spectrographs for wide-field multi-object spectroscopy

Robert Content, Sam Barden, Santiago Becerril, Armin Boehm, Paul Clark, Pedro Costillo, C. Mark Dubbeldam, Tony Farrell, Karl Glazebrook, Roger Haynes, Klaus Meisenheimer, Stan Miziarski, Nikolaos Nikoloudakis, Luis Francisco Prada, Ralf-Rainer Rohloff, Tom Shanks, Ray M. Sharples, Karl Wagner

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III; 77351Q (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857932
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Two feasibility studies for spectrographs that can deliver at least 4000 MOS slits over a 1° field at the prime focuses of the Anglo-Australian and Calar Alto Observatories have been completed. We describe the design and science case of the Calar Alto eXtreme Multiplex Spectrograph (XMS) for which an extended study, half way between feasibility study and phase-A, was made. The optical design is quite similar than in the AAO study for the Next Generation 1 degree Field (NG1dF) but the mechanical design of XMS is quite different and much more developed. In a single night, 25000 galaxy redshifts can be measured to z~0.7 and beyond for measuring the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scale and many other science goals. This may provide a low-cost alternative to WFMOS for example and other large fibre spectrographs. The design features four cloned spectrographs which gives a smaller total weight and length than a unique spectrograph to makes it placable at prime focus. The clones use a transparent design including a grism in which all optics are about the size or smaller than the clone rectangular subfield so that they can be tightly packed with little gaps between subfields. Only low cost glasses are used; the variations in chromatic aberrations between bands are compensated by changing a box containing the grism and two adjacent lenses. Three bands cover the 420nm to 920nm wavelength range at 10A resolution while another cover the Calcium triplet at 3A. An optional box does imaging. We however also studied different innovative methods for acquisition without imaging. A special mask changing mechanism was also designed to compensate for the lack of space around the focal plane. Conceptual designs for larger projects (AAT 2º field, CFHT, VISTA) have also been done.

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Robert Content, Sam Barden, Santiago Becerril, Armin Boehm, Paul Clark, Pedro Costillo, C. Mark Dubbeldam, Tony Farrell, Karl Glazebrook, Roger Haynes, Klaus Meisenheimer, Stan Miziarski, Nikolaos Nikoloudakis, Luis Francisco Prada, Ralf-Rainer Rohloff, Tom Shanks, Ray M. Sharples, and Karl Wagner "XMS and NG1dF: extreme multiplex spectrographs for wide-field multi-object spectroscopy", Proc. SPIE 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 77351Q (15 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857932

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