The Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) has an instrumentation group for engineering, design, and fabrication that integrates tightly with an energetic group of instrument scientists1 to develop complex astronomical instruments. This instrumentation group puts ideas for innovative technical solutions generated by the instrument scientist group into reality. One demonstration of past achievement is the highly ambitious and successful 2dF instrument that yielded invaluable scientific insight into the cosmological structure of the universe. The more recent successes of the instrumentation group include the OzPoz fiber positioner for the FLAMES facility on the VLT and the award-winning, imaging and multi-object IRIS-2 infrared spectrograph for the AAT. VPH gratings were first put into action in LDSS++ on the AAT and numerous VPH gratings are now in routine use on the 6dF spectrograph for the UKST. Under development are a completely new and unique fiber positioning scheme (Echidna) for use in the FMOS instrument for Subaru; a double-beamed, VPH-based, bench-mounted spectrograph for 2dF; new IR and optical detector controllers; a renovation of the telescope and instrument control systems for the AAT; and a feasibility study for an Echidna-style positioner for the Gemini telescopes. Several other design studies are underway for new instrument technologies using leading edge and innovative concepts in robotics and fibers. The synergy between our scientists and engineers establishes a sound basis for solving the instrumentation challenges facing us.

Date Published: 30 September 2004
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 5492, Ground-based Instrumentation for Astronomy, (30 September 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.550286

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5492:
Ground-based Instrumentation for Astronomy
Alan F. M. Moorwood; Masanori Iye, Editor(s)