Operating on 6 interferometric baselines, i.e. using all 4 UTs, the 2nd generation VLTI instrument GRAVITY will deliver narrow angle astrometry with 10μas accuracy at the infrared K-band. Within the international GRAVITY consortium, the Cologne institute is responsible for the development and construction of the two spectrometers: one for the science object, and one for the fringe tracking object. Optically two individual components, both spectrometers are two separate units with their own housing and interfaces inside the vacuum vessel of GRAVITY. The general design of the spectrometers, however, is similar. The optical layout is separated into beam collimator (with integrated optics and metrology laser injection) and camera system (with detector, dispersive element, & Wollaston filter wheel). Mechanically, this transfers to two regions which are separated by a solid baffle wall incorporating the blocking filter for the metrology Laser wavelength. The optical subunits are mounted in individual rigid tubes which pay respect to the individual shape, size and thermal expansion of the lenses. For a minimized thermal background, the spectrometers are actively cooled down to an operating temperature of 80K in the ambient temperature environment of the GRAVITY vacuum dewar. The integrated optics beam combiner and the metrology laser injection, which are operated at 200/240K, are mounted thermally isolated to the cold housing of the spectrometers. The optical design has shown that the alignment of the detector is crucial to the performance of the spectrometers. Therefore, in addition to four wheel mechanisms, six cryogenic positioning mechanisms are included in the mechanical design of the detector mount.

Date Published: 26 July 2010
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 7739, Modern Technologies in Space- and Ground-based Telescopes and Instrumentation, 77393P (26 July 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.856118

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7739:
Modern Technologies in Space- and Ground-based Telescopes and Instrumentation
Eli Atad-Ettedgui; Dietrich Lemke, Editor(s)