Open Access
4 March 2024 Development of a near-infrared wide-field integral field unit by ultra-precision diamond cutting
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) is an observational method for obtaining spatially resolved spectra over a specific field of view (FoV) in a single exposure. In recent years, near-infrared IFS has gained importance in observing objects with strong dust attenuation or at a high redshift. One limitation of existing near-infrared IFS instruments is their relatively small FoV, less than 100 arcsec2, compared with optical instruments. Therefore, we developed a near-infrared (0.9 to 2.5 μm) image-slicer type integral field unit (IFU) with a larger FoV of 13.5×10.4 arcsec2 by matching a slice width to a typical seeing size of 0.4 arcsec. The IFU has a compact optical design utilizing off-axis ellipsoidal mirrors to reduce aberrations. Complex optical elements were fabricated using an ultra-precision cutting machine to achieve root mean square surface roughness of less than 10 nm and a P-V shape error of less than 300 nm. The ultra-precision machining can also simplify the alignment procedures. The on-sky performance evaluation confirmed that the image quality and the throughput of the IFU were as designed. In conclusion, we successfully developed a compact IFU utilizing an ultra-precision cutting technique, almost fulfilling the requirements.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
Kosuke Kushibiki, Shinobu Ozaki, Masahiro Takeda, Takuya Hosobata, Yutaka Yamagata, Shin-ya Morita, Toshihiro Tsuzuki, Keiichi Nakagawa, Takao Saiki, Yutaka Ohtake, Kenji Mitsui, Hirofumi Okita, Yutaro Kitagawa, Yukihiro Kono, Kentaro Motohara, Hidenori Takahashi, Masahiro Konishi, Natsuko M. Kato, Shuhei Koyama, and Nuo Chen "Development of a near-infrared wide-field integral field unit by ultra-precision diamond cutting," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 10(1), 015004 (4 March 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.10.1.015004
Received: 2 October 2023; Accepted: 8 February 2024; Published: 4 March 2024
Advertisement
Advertisement
KEYWORDS
Mirrors

Image quality

Telescopes

Mirror surfaces

Vignetting

Surface roughness

Engineering

RELATED CONTENT

Webb Telescope imaging performance
Proceedings of SPIE (August 27 2022)
Optical designs for space ultraviolet telescope
Proceedings of SPIE (December 28 2022)
Predicted JWST imaging performance
Proceedings of SPIE (September 21 2012)
WIYN tip-tilt module performance
Proceedings of SPIE (February 04 2003)
All-spherical wide-field camera
Proceedings of SPIE (November 19 2021)

Back to Top