This paper presents an overview of the PDR level mechanical and opto-mechanical design of the cryogenic spectrograph unit of the nIR spectropolarimeter (SPIROU) proposed as a new-generation instrument for CFHT. The design is driven by the need for high thermo-mechanical stability in terms of the radial velocity (RV) of 1 m/s during one night, with the requirement for thermal stability set at 1 mK/24 hours. This paper describes stress-free design of the cryogenic optical mounts, mechanical design of the custom-build cryostat, mechanical design of the optical bench, and thermal design for 1 mK thermal stability. The thermal budget was calculated using lumped-mass model thermal analysis, implemented in Modelica multi-domain modeling language. Discussion of thermal control options to achieve 1 mK thermal stability is included.

Date Published: 24 September 2012
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 84464E (24 September 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.927442

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8446:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
Ian S. McLean; Suzanne K. Ramsay; Hideki Takami, Editor(s)