The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is under construction to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 40 million galaxies over 14000 square degrees will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the Kitt Peak National Observatory Mayall telescope will deliver light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broad-band spectrographs. We will describe the status of the DESI corrector optics, a series of 0.8 to 1.1-meter fused silica and borosilicate lenses currently being fabricated to demanding requirements. We will describe the specs for lenses that are finished or underway, including surface figure, homogeneity, and other parameters; the current schedule for lens production; and a comparison against DESI corrector requirements.

Date Published: 9 August 2016
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 99088J (9 August 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2232739

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9908:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI
Christopher J. Evans; Luc Simard; Hideki Takami, Editor(s)