The Smithsonian Widefield Infrared Camera (SWIRC) is a Y -, J-, and H-band imager for the f/5 MMT. Proposed in May 2003 and commissioned in June 2004, the goal of the instrument was to deliver quickly a wide field-of-view instrument with minimal optical elements and hence high throughput. The trade-off; was to sacrifice K-band capability by not having an internal, cold Lyot stop. We describe SWIRC's design and capabilities, and discuss lessons learned from the thermal design and the detector mount, all of which have been incorporated into the upcoming MMT & Magellan Infrared Spectrograph.

Date Published: 9 July 2008
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 7014, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II, 70142P (9 July 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.787117

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7014:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II
Ian S. McLean; Mark M. Casali, Editor(s)