Astronomical instrumentation

Abstract:

Near-infrared bandpass filters are commonly designed & manufactured using vacuum-evaporated films of Silicon and Silicon Monoxide. However the transparency of these filters is limited by optical absorption in the films when producing filters for wavelengths below 1200nm approximately. This work reports improvements in NIR filter transparency achieved by exploiting recent advances in magnetron sputtering technology. Sputtered silicon compound films have been used to demonstrate efficient bandpass filters for astronomy applications at wavelengths below 1000nm. This process technology allows a new selection of film materials to be used in design of NIR bandpass filters, with transmission and thermal drift characteristics which differ from conventional evaporated coatings. The spectral location of the bandpass is controlled by a non-optical method, which avoids the complex optical monitoring configurations normally required. The speed and flexibility of this process also offers a potential solution for projects which require small batches of custom NIR optical filters. Highly durable filters are obtained without elevated process temperature, which would otherwise be required in conventional evaporation processes. This avoids heating filter substrates which may be sensitive to thermal cycling effects. Attenuation of sidebands to T<0.0001 is reported across the spectral range of common sensor devices. The thermal sensitivity for cryostat applications is characterised and compared to conventional evaporated optical coatings. This method has been applied to 975nm & 985nm bandpass filters for use on VISTA project instrumentation. It also offers improvements for filters at longer wavelengths in the range 1000nm-5000nm. Some examples are reported in this region.

Abstract:

We present the manufacturing and first results from testing and characterising the SWIFT image slicer. The SWIFT image slicer design is based on the MPE-3D and SPIFFI image slicers. It uses plane mirrors to slice the input field but through a novel, de-magnifying design, using a mosaic of spherical lenses, it achieves a considerable de-magnification. Classical polishing techniques can be applied to manufacture both plane and spherical surfaces with very high surface accuracy and quality reducing aberrations and scattered light. The SWIFT image slicer was manufactured over a 18 months period and was delivered to Oxford in September 2007. The commissioning of the SWIFT instrument will take place in August/September 2008.