The Adaptive Optics System for the Gemini Infrared Multi-Object Spectrograph: Performance Modeling

The Gemini Infrared Multi-Object Spectrograph (GIRMOS) will be a near-infrared, multi-object, medium spectral resolution, integral field spectrograph (IFS) for Gemini North Telescope, designed to operate behind the future Gemini North Adaptive Optics system (GNAO). In addition to a first ground layer Adaptive Optics (AO) correction in closed loop carried out by GNAO, each of the four GIRMOS IFSs will independently perform additional multi-object AO correction in open loop, resulting in an improved image quality that is critical to achieve top level science requirements. We present the baseline parameters and simulated performance of GIRMOS obtained by modeling both the GNAO and GIRMOS AO systems. The image quality requirement for GIRMOS is that 57% of the energy of an unresolved point-spread function ensquared within a 0.1 x 0.1 arcsecond at 2.0 {\mu} m. It was established that GIRMOS will be an order 16 x 16 adaptive optics (AO) system after examining the tradeoffs between performance, risks and costs. The ensquared energy requirement will be met in median atmospheric conditions at Maunakea at 30{\deg} from zenith.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi

Adaptive optics for high resolution spectroscopy

In this thesis, I explore an innovative way of designing high resolution spectrograph using Adaptive Optics. Most of the RV spectrographs are installed on 4 meter class telescopes and are working in seeing-limited conditions, however, a strong limitation for the adaptation of this instrumentation onto large telescope exists. Telescopes and radial-velocity spectrographs size issue as well as the technology proposed to overcome this problem (Adaptive Optics) are addressed in this thesis. With adaptive optics the telescope optical étendue can be reduced without loosing photons, thus allow us to build very compact spectrographs, cheaper and easier to stabilized. Moreover, a direct application of this concept is presented through this thesis with the NIRPS instrument