X-shooter:What stands behind the good performance

International audienceOne year of operations demonstrated the high level of scientific performance of the X-shooter spectrograph. The excellent science opened by this instrument is described in various papers within this volume. The purpose of this contribution is to briefly describe the novel technical solution adopted in the design and construction phase of X-shooter that made it a successful instrument and the aforementioned science possible

ESPRESSO APSU: simplify the life of pupil slicing

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

X-shooter UV- to K-band intermediate-resolution high-efficiency spectrograph for the VLT: status report at the final design review

Contains fulltext : 34890.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)X-shooter is a single target spectrograph for the Cassegrain focus of one of the VLT UTs where it will start to operate in 2008. The instrument covers in a single exposure the spectral range from the UV to the K' band. It is designed to maximize the sensitivity in this spectral range through the splitting in three arms with optimized optics, coatings, dispersive elements and detectors. It operates at intermediate resolutions (R=4000-14000, depending on wavelength and slit width) with fixed echelle spectral format (with prism cross-dispersers) in the three arms. The project has completed the Final Design Review in June 2006. In this status report, the overall concept is summarized and new results on the dichroics, the active flexure compensation system, the operation modes and the expected performance are given. The instrument is being built by a Consortium of Institutes from Denmark, France, Italy and the Netherlands in collaboration with ESO. When in operation, its wide spectral range observing capability will be unique at very large telescopes