Integral Field Spectrographs: a user's view

We easily tend to think of Integral-Field Spectrographs (IFS) along two opposing trends: as either the beautiful combination between photometry and spectroscopy, or as our worst nightmare including the dark side of both worlds. I favour a view where each IFS is considered individually, as one instrument with specific performances which can be used optimally for a certain range of scientific programs. It is indeed true that data-wise, IFS do sometime merge the characteristics of classic (e.g., long-slit) spectrographs with annoying issues associated with Imagers. This is in fact the price to pay to access a drastically different perspective of our favourite targets. The challenge is then to provide the necessary tools to properly handle the corresponding data. However, this should certainly not be thought as something specific to IFS: such a challenge should be accepted for any instrument, and most importantly solved prior to its delivery at the telescope.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Invited talk, to appear in the Proceedings of "The 2007 ESO Instrument Calibration Workshop", ESO Astrophysics Symposia, Springe

The 2008 outburst in the young stellar system Z CMa: III. Multi-epoch high-angular resolution images and spectra of the components in near-infrared

Context. Z CMa is a complex pre-main sequence binary with a current separation of 110 mas, known to consist of an FU Orionis star (SE component) and an embedded Herbig Be star (NW component). Although it represents a well-studied and characterized system, the origin of photometric variabilities, the component properties, and the physical configuration of the system remain mostly unknown. Aims. Immediately when the late-2008 outburst of Z CMa was announced to the community, we initiated a high angular resolution imaging campaign aimed at characterizing the outburst state of both components of the system in the near-infrared. Methods. We used the VLT/NACO and the Keck/NIRC2 near-infrared adaptive optics instrument to monitor the astrometric position and the near-infrared photometry of the Z CMa components during the outburst phase and one year after. The VLT/SINFONI and Keck/OSIRIS integral field spectroscrographs were in addition used to characterize for the first time the resolved spectral properties of the FU Orionis and the Herbig Be component during and after the outburst. Results. We confirm that the NW star dominates the system flux in the 1.1−3.8 μm range and is responsible for the photometric outburst. We extract the first medium-resolution (R ~ 2000−4000) near-infrared (1.1−2.4 μm) spectra of the individual components. The SE component has a spectrum typical of FU Orionis objects. The NW component spectrum is characteristic of embedded outbursting protostars and EX Or objects. It displays numerous emission lines whose intensity correlates with the system activity. In particular, we find a correlation between the Brγ equivalent width and the system brightness. The bluing of the continuum of the NW component along with the absolute flux and color-variation of the system during the outburst suggests that the outburst was caused by a complex interplay between a variation of the extinction in the line of sight of the NW component on one hand, and the emission of shocked regions close to the NW component on the other. We confirm the recently reported wiggling of the SE component jet from [Fe II] line emission. We find a point-like structure associated with a peak emission at 2.098 μm coincidental with the clump or arm seen in broadband polarization differential imaging as well as additional diffuse emission along a PA = 214°. The origin of these two structures is unclear and deserves further investigation

Gemini Observations of Disks and Jets in Young Stellar Objects and in Active Galaxies

We present first results from the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) located at Gemini North. For the active galaxies Cygnus A and Perseus A we observe rotationally-supported accretion disks and adduce the existence of massive central black holes and estimate their masses. In Cygnus A we also see remarkable high-excitation ionization cones dominated by photoionization from the central engine. In the T-Tauri stars HV Tau C and DG Tau we see highly-collimated bipolar outflows in the [Fe II] 1.644 micron line, surrounded by a slower molecular bipolar outflow seen in the H_2 lines, in accordance with the model advocated by Pyo et al. (2002).Comment: Invited paper presented at the 5th Stromlo Symposium. 9 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Hybrid sol-gel planar optics for Astronomy

International audienc

Performance of astronomical beam combiner prototypes fabricated by hybrid sol-gel technology

International audienceIntegrated optics coaxial two, three and four telescope beam combiners have been fabricated by hybrid sol-gel technology for astronomical applications. Temporal and spectral analyses of the output interferometric signal have been performed, and their results are in mutual good agreement. The results of the characterization method employed are cross-checked using contrast measurements obtained independently, demonstrating that the chromatic differential dispersion is the main con- tributer to contrast reduction. The mean visibility of the fabricated devices is always higher than 95 %, obtained using a source with spectral bandwidth of 50 nm. These results show the capability of hybrid sol-gel technology for fast prototyping of complex chip designs used in astronomical applications

Surveillance of viral contamination of invasive medical instruments in dentistry

Objective: To investigate the viral contamination of invasive medical instruments in dentistry and to provide health administrative institutions with surveillance data. Methods: Sterilized samples were randomly collected from the department of dentistry to detect HBV-DNA, HCV-RNA, HIV-RNA and HBsAg. Results: Of the invasive medical instruments that were sterilized with 2% glutaraldehyde, one of the samples was positive for HBV-DNA, and another sample was positive for HBsAg. Conclusion: Though massive virus contamination of invasive medical instruments in dentistry has been reduced to a low level, the occurrence of contamination still remains

Status update on the development of METIS, the mid-infrared ELT imager and spectrograph

Instrumentatio

The core of the matter: spatially resolving active galactic nuclei with GRAVITY

Galaxie