The SOAR Optical Imager

The SOAR Optical Imager (SOI) is the commissioning instrument for the 4.2-m SOAR telescope, which is sited on Cerro Pachón, and due for first light in April 2003. It is being built at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and is one of a suite of first-light instruments being provided by the four SOAR partners (NOAO, Brazil, University of North Carolina, Michigan State University). The instrument is designed to produce precision photometry and to fully exploit the expected superb image quality of the SOAR telescope, over a 6x6 arcmin field. Design goals include maintaining high throughput down to the atmospheric cut-off, and close reproduction of photometric passbands throughout 310-1050nm. The focal plane consists of a two-CCD mosaic of 2Kx4K Lincoln Labs CCDs, following an atmospheric dispersion corrector, focal reducer, and tip-tilt sensor. Control and data handling are within the LabVIEW-Linux environment used throughout the SOAR Project

The SOAR optical imager: status and first results

We briefly describe the SOAR Optical Imager (SOI), the first light instrument for the 4.1m SOuthern Astronomical Research (SOAR) telescope now being commissioned on Cerro Pachón in the mountains of northern Chile. The SOI has a mini-mosaic of 2 2kx4k CCDs at its focal plane, a focal reducer camera, two filter cartridges, and a linear ADC. The instrument was designed to produce precision photometry and to fully exploit the expected superb image quality of the SOAR telescope over a 5.5x5.5 arcmin2 field with high throughput down to the atmospheric cut-off, and close reproduction of photometric pass-bands throughout 310-1050 nm. During early engineering runs in April 2004, we used the SOI to take images as part of the test program for the actively controlled primary mirror of the SOAR telescope, one of which we show in this paper. Taken just three months after the arrival of the optics in Chile, we show that the stellar images have the same diameter of 0.74" as the simultaneously measured seeing disk at the time of observation. We call our image "Engineering 1st Light" and in the near future expect to be able to produce images with diameters down to 0.3" in the R band over a 5.5' field during about 20% of the observing time, using the tip-tilt adaptive corrector we are implementing

ISPI: the infared side port imager for the CITO 4-m telescope

The new operations model for the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope will use a small suite of fixed facility instruments for imaging and spectroscopy. The Infrared Side Port Imager, ISPI, provides the infrared imaging capability. We describe the optical, mechanical, electronic, and software components of the instrument. The optical design is a refractive camera-collimator system. The cryo-mechanical packaging integrates two LN2-cooled dewars into a compact, straightline unit to fit within space constraints at the bent Cassegrain telescope focus. A HAWAII 2 2048 x 2048 HgCdTe array is operated by an SDSU II array controller. Instrument control is implemented with ArcVIEW, a proprietary LabVIEW-based software package. First light on the telescope is planned for September 2002

Coating the 8-m Gemini telescopes with protected silver

ABSTRACT The Gemini telescopes were designed to be infrared-optimized. Among the features specified for optimal performance is the use of silver-based coatings on the mirrors. The feasibility study contracted by Gemini in 1994-1995 provided both techniques and recipes to apply these high-reflectivity and low-emissivity films. All this effort is now being implemented in our coating plants. At the time of the study, sputtering experiments showed that a reflectivity of 99.1% at 10µm was achievable. We have now produced bare and protected silver sputtered films in our coating plants and conducted environmental testing, both accelerated and in real-life conditions, to assess the durability. We have also already applied, for the first time ever, protected-silver coatings on the main optical elements (M1, M2 and M3) of an 8-m telescope. We report here the progress to date, the performance of the films, and our long-term plans for mirror coatings and maintenance

The SOAR Optical Imager

The SOAR Optical Imager (SOI) is the commissioning instrument for the 4.2-m SOAR telescope, which is sited on Cerro Pachón, and due for first light in April 2003. It is being built at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and is one of a suite of first-light instruments being provided by the four SOAR partners (NOAO, Brazil, University of North Carolina, Michigan State University). The instrument is designed to produce precision photometry and to fully exploit the expected superb image quality of the SOAR telescope, over a 6x6 arcmin field. Design goals include maintaining high throughput down to the atmospheric cut-off, and close reproduction of photometric passbands throughout 310-1050nm. The focal plane consists of a two-CCD mosaic of 2Kx4K Lincoln Labs CCDs, following an atmospheric dispersion corrector, focal reducer, and tip-tilt sensor. Control and data handling are within the LabVIEW-Linux environment used throughout the SOAR Project

ISPI: the infared side port imager for the CITO 4-m telescope

The new operations model for the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope will use a small suite of fixed facility instruments for imaging and spectroscopy. The Infrared Side Port Imager, ISPI, provides the infrared imaging capability. We describe the optical, mechanical, electronic, and software components of the instrument. The optical design is a refractive camera-collimator system. The cryo-mechanical packaging integrates two LN2-cooled dewars into a compact, straightline unit to fit within space constraints at the bent Cassegrain telescope focus. A HAWAII 2 2048 x 2048 HgCdTe array is operated by an SDSU II array controller. Instrument control is implemented with ArcVIEW, a proprietary LabVIEW-based software package. First light on the telescope is planned for September 2002

The SOAR optical imager: status and first results

We briefly describe the SOAR Optical Imager (SOI), the first light instrument for the 4.1m SOuthern Astronomical Research (SOAR) telescope now being commissioned on Cerro Pachón in the mountains of northern Chile. The SOI has a mini-mosaic of 2 2kx4k CCDs at its focal plane, a focal reducer camera, two filter cartridges, and a linear ADC. The instrument was designed to produce precision photometry and to fully exploit the expected superb image quality of the SOAR telescope over a 5.5x5.5 arcmin2 field with high throughput down to the atmospheric cut-off, and close reproduction of photometric pass-bands throughout 310-1050 nm. During early engineering runs in April 2004, we used the SOI to take images as part of the test program for the actively controlled primary mirror of the SOAR telescope, one of which we show in this paper. Taken just three months after the arrival of the optics in Chile, we show that the stellar images have the same diameter of 0.74" as the simultaneously measured seeing disk at the time of observation. We call our image "Engineering 1st Light" and in the near future expect to be able to produce images with diameters down to 0.3" in the R band over a 5.5' field during about 20% of the observing time, using the tip-tilt adaptive corrector we are implementing

Gemini multiconjugate adaptive optics system review - I. Design, trade-offs and integration

The Gemini multiconjugate adaptive optics system (GeMS) at the Gemini South telescope in Cerro Pachón is the first sodium-based multilaser guide star (LGS) adaptive optics system. It uses five LGSs and two deformable mirrors to measure and compensate fo

Gemini multi-conjugate adaptive optics system review II: Commissioning, operation and overall performance

The Gemini Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics System - GeMS, a facility instrument mounted on the Gemini South telescope, delivers a uniform, near diffraction limited images at near infrared wavelengths (0.95 microns- 2.5 microns) over a field of view of 120 arc seconds. GeMS is the first sodium layer based multi laser guide star adaptive optics system used in astronomy. It uses five laser guide stars distributed on a 60 arc seconds square constellation to measure for atmospheric distortions and two deformable mirrors to compensate for it. In this paper, the second devoted to describe the GeMS project, we present the commissioning, overall performance and operational scheme of GeMS. Performance of each sub-system is derived from the commissioning results. The typical image quality, expressed in full with half maximum, Strehl ratios and variations over the field delivered by the system are then described. A discussion of the main contributor to performance limitation is carried-out. Finally, overheads and future system upgrades are described.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA