Silicon Carbide (SiC) optical materials are being applied widely for both space based and ground based optical telescopes. The material provides a superior weight to stiffness ratio, which is an important metric for the design and fabrication of lightweight space telescopes. The material also has superior thermal properties with a low coefficient of thermal expansion, and a high thermal conductivity. The thermal properties advantages are important for both space based and ground based systems, which typically need to operate under stressing thermal conditions. The paper will review L-3 Integrated Optical Systems – SSG’s (L-3 SSG) work in developing SiC optics and SiC optical systems for astronomical observing systems. L-3 SSG has been fielding SiC optical components and systems for over 25 years. Space systems described will emphasize the recently launched Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) developed for JHU-APL and NASA-GSFC. Review of ground based applications of SiC will include supporting L-3 IOS-Brashear’s current contract to provide the 0.65 meter diameter, aspheric SiC secondary mirror for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST).

The LISA Optical Stability Characterization project is part of the LISA CTP activities to achieve the required Technonlogy Readiness Level (TRL) for all of the LISA technologies used. This activity aims demonstration of the Telescope Assembly (TA), with a structure based on CFRP technology, that a CTE of 10^-7 1/K can be achieved with measures to tune the CTE to this level. In addition the demonstration is required to prove that the structure exhibits highly predictable mechanical distortion characteristics when cooling down to -90°C, during outgassing in space and when going from 1g environment to 0g. This paper describes the test facilities as well as the first test results. A dedicated test setup is designed and realized to allow monitoring dimensional variations of the TA using three interferometers, while varying the temperature in a thermal vacuum chamber. Critical parameters of the verification setup are the length metrology accuracy in thermal vacuum and the thermal vacuum flexibility and stability. The test programme includes Telescope Assembly CTE measurements and thermal gradient characterization.

The Segmented Mirror Telescope (SMT) at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey is a next-generation deployable telescope, featuring a 3-meter 6-segment primary mirror and advanced wavefront sensing and correction capabilities. In its stowed configuration, the SMT primary mirror segments collapse into a small volume; once on location, these segments open to the full 3-meter diameter. The segments must be very accurately aligned after deployment and the segment surfaces are actively controlled using numerous small, embedded actuators. The SMT employs a passive damping system to complement the actuators and mitigate the effects of low-frequency (<40 Hz) vibration modes of the primary mirror segments. Each of the six segments has three or more modes in this bandwidth, and resonant vibration excited by acoustics or small disturbances on the structure can result in phase mismatches between adjacent segments thereby degrading image quality. The damping system consists of two tuned mass dampers (TMDs) for each of the mirror segments. An adjustable TMD with passive magnetic damping was selected to minimize sensitivity to changes in temperature; both frequency and damping characteristics can be tuned for optimal vibration mitigation. Modal testing was performed with a laser vibrometry system to characterize the SMT segments with and without the TMDs. Objectives of this test were to determine operating deflection shapes of the mirror and to quantify segment edge displacements; relative alignment of λ/4 or better was desired. The TMDs attenuated the vibration amplitudes by 80% and reduced adjacent segment phase mismatches to acceptable levels.

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) consists of a large number of 12m diameter antennas that will operate up to 950GHz. The antenna must meet all primary operational performances also during solar observation. When the antenna is pointing directly the sun or when the sun is close to the boresight axis, the solar power concentrated by the mirrors cannot damage any part of the antenna. When the antenna is pointing toward the sun, the power absorbed by a black body positioned in the secondary focal area shall not exceed 0.3 W/cm2. To achieve these requirements, the primary surface of the antenna has a suitable surface scattering treatment. The same thing was done for the surface of the subreflector. Specific tests were performed on the panels surface and secondary mirror during the prototype and production phase in order to optimize the best behaviour. A particular care must be applied in the control of the secondary area, where the entire solar power spectrum, from the UV to the infrared, reflected by the primary mirror, can contribute to overheat reflecting areas support structures. In this report we provide a series of analysis and results obtained during the solar observation.

The completely open-foldable dome of the GREGOR telescope is a further development of the DOT dome, respectively 9 and 7 meter in diameter. New technical developments are implemented and tested at the GREGOR dome, that are important for the design of the much larger dome for the EST, which will be 28 meter in diameter. The GREGOR dome is the first with more than one clamp working simultaneously for closing the dome and bringing the membranes on the required high tension for storm resistance. The storm Delta with 245 km/h 1-minute mean maximum at the location of the GREGOR gave no problems nor did the storms afterwards. Opening and closing experiences are up to wind speeds of 90 km/h without problems. Good observing circumstances never occur with higher wind speeds. A double layer of membranes is applied in the GREGOR construction whereas the DOT dome is equipped with a single layer. Simultaneous climate measurements inside and outside the dome have proven the thermal-insulation capability of this double-layer construction. The experiences with the GREGOR showed that the elongation by tensioning of the prestrained membrane material is much lower than originally expected. In the meantime, more strong and stiff membrane material is available and applied in the EST design. As a consequence, the clamps of the EST can have a relatively much shorter length and there is no need anymore for simultaneous operation of the clamps and the main actuators in low speed with help of a frequency inverter. The clamps can close after the main bow operation is finished, which simplifies the electrical control.

Modern astronomical instrumentation is often developed through non traditional congurations and free form optics. Recent technological development allows the manufacturing of exotic surfaces, sometimes very far away from rotationally symmetric geometries. We propose new developments of the solid telescope concept using multiple re ections between the faces of a single lens. Taking advantage of modern materials and manufacturing solutions, a compact, robust, and easily replicable optical subsystem could represent an optimal solution for small telescopes tailored to specic applications. In this paper we describe the solution for an instrument devoted to the fast transients detection and tracking.

The mirror segments for the E-ELT and TLT are nearly equal in size and shape (hexagonal, 1.2 m over flat sides). They are very thin (about 50 mm) compared to their size. Supporting these mirrors and obtaining high optical performance is a challenge from design and manufacturing point of view. TNO has designed and build (together with VDL-ETG) three identical prototypes for supporting the mirror segments of the E-ELT. These mirror segments vary in size. Hence the gravity induced deformation of the mirror segments will vary from mirror to mirror segment when no measures are taken. The paper will concentrate on the design and analysis of the design features within the support structure to minimize the mirror deformation due to gravity. These features concern passive and active means to influence the mirror segment shape and to compensate for deformation differences.

The stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm based on the generalized phase diversity wavefront sensor is presented for co-phasing of segmented mirrors. Cost functions of the optimization algorithm were built up in different circular zones for intensity images of the sensor. In order to achieve high accuracy for co-phasing, four phase diversity functions with increasing amplitudes were applied to the sensor for improving the strength of output signal from the wavefront sensor during the aberrations of the segmented mirror decreasing with the co-phasing process. A simulated segmented mirror was used to test the feasibility of this method. The numerical experiments show that the co-phasing accuracy is very high for the aberrations of the segmented mirrors less than 1.5 wavelengths. And the algorithm is very robust and noise tolerant.

Detection and observation of gravitational waves requires extreme stability in the frequency range 3e-5 Hz to 1 Hz. NGO/LISA will attain this by creating a giant interferometer in space, based on free floating proof masses in three spacecrafts. To operate NGO/LISA, the following piezo mechanisms are developed: 1. A piezo stack mechanism (Point Angle Ahead Mechanism) Due to time delay in the interferometer arms, the beam angle needs to be corrected. A mechanism rotating a mirror with a piezo stack performs this task. The critical requirements are the contribution to the optical path difference (less than 1.4 pm/√Hz) and the angular jitter (less than 8 nrad/√Hz). 2. A piezo sliding mechanism (Fiber Switching Unit Actuator) To switch from primary to the redundant laser source, a Fiber Switching Unit Actuator (FSUA) is developed. The critical requirements are the coalignment of outgoing beams of <+/-1 micro radian and <+/-1 micro meter. A redundant piezo sliding mechanism rotates a wave plate over 45 degrees. 3. A piezo stepping mechanism (In Field Pointing Mechanism) Due to seasonal orbit evolution effects, beams have to be corrected over a stroke of +/-2.5 degrees. The critical requirements are the contribution to the optical path difference (less than 3.0 pm/√Hz) and the angular jitter (less than 1 nrad/√Hz). Due to the large stroke, a piezo stepping concept was selected. Dedicated control algorithms have been implemented to achieve these challenging requirements. This paper gives description of the designs and the ongoing process of qualifying the mechanisms for space applications.

The spectroscopy of the far UV emission lines of the solar spectrum combined with an imaging capability is essential to understand the physics of the outer solar atmosphere. An imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (IFTSUV) is an attractive instrumental solution to perform such far-UV solar observations. Working in the far UV involves high precision metrology to maintain the optical path difference (OPD) during the entire scanning process of the interferogram. It also involves a compact all-reflection design for UV applications. We present the specification of a servo-system that enables dynamic tip/tilt alignment compensation and OPD sampling measurement of the IFTSUV scanning mirror. We also discuss the first experimental results of a breadboard as well as the preliminary design of a space-based device.

This paper wants to illustrate possible applications of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) as functional devices for space and ground based application in Instrumentations for Astronomy. Thermal activated Shape Memory Alloys are materials able to recover their original shape, after an external deformation, if heated above a characteristic temperature. If the recovery of the shape is completely or partially prevented by the presence of constraints, the material can generate recovery stress. Thanks to this feature, these materials can be positively exploited in Smart Structures if properly embedded into host materials. Some technological processes developed for an ecient use of SMA-based actuators embedded in smart structures tailored to astronomical instrumentation will be presented here. Some possible modeling approaches of the actuators behavior will be addressed taking into account trade- offs between detailed analysis and overall performance prediction as a function of the computational time. The Material characterization procedure adopted for the constitutive laws implementation will be described as well. Deformable composite mirrors,1 opto-mechanical mounting with superelastic kinematic behavior and damping of launch loads onto optical element2 are feasible applications that will be deeply investigated in this paper.

A liquid atmospheric dispersion corrector (LADC) is investigated to compensate atmospheric dispersion for modern extremely large telescopes (ELTs). The LADC uses a pair of immiscible liquids in a small glass container which can be placed very close to the telescope focal plane. A pair of liquid prisms is formed and the apex of the two prisms varies with telescope zenith because of gravity. The idea is that a large number of independent deployable units (e.g., AAO's 'Starbugs') would each carry its own LADC. Three pairs of liquids were identified that were found suitable for use in an LADC after thousands of chemicals were investigated. We have theoretically and experimentally verified that LADC can correct atmospheric dispersion adaptively. It is demonstrated that a LADC can correct a simulated atmospheric dispersion of 0.34° at a Zenith of 48°, over a wavelength range of 370nm to 655nm. The experimental results show very good agreement with the optical (Zemax) model.

Liquid lenses have been developed as a means for fast and reliable variable-focus optics by using an adjustable curvature in a liquid-liquid interface. The use of liquid lenses also provides the benefit of reducing the number of elements in a system, and providing a degree of freedom without any moving parts. Different methods for surface curvature actuation have been developed, including aperture adjustment, mechanical actuators, stimuli-responsive hydrogels, and mechanical-wetting. Current liquid lens designs are limited to small apertures (less than 4mm) and density-matching fluids to lessen the negative effects of gravity. By creating a lens intended for use in a microgravity environment, the aperture size can be increased by orders of magnitude, and optimal fluids can be used regardless of their density. Using a large-aperture (12mm) liquid lens, image and surface metrology was conducted using a fixed-focus configuration. The Software Configurable Optical Test System (SCOTS) method was utilized to test the effect of microgravity, standard gravity, and hypergravity on the liquid lens during parabolic flights. Under standard gravity, the RMS wavefront error (WFE) was 27 wavelengths, while microgravity conditions allowed an improvement to 17 wavelengths RMS WFE. Test performance can be improved by using lower viscosity fluids or longer duration microgravity flights. The experiment also served as an engineering demonstration for the SCOTS method in an environment where other methods of optical metrology would be impossible.

Small deformable mirrors (DMs) produced using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) techniques have been used in thermally stable, bench-top laboratory environments. With advances in MEMS DM technology, a variety of field applications are becoming more common, such as the Gemini Planet Imager’s (GPI) adaptive optics system. Instruments at the Gemini Observatory operate in conditions where fluctuating ambient temperature, varying gravity orientations and humidity and dust can have a significant effect on DM performance. As such, it is crucial that the mechanical design of the MEMS DM mount be tailored to the environment. GPI’s approach has been to mount a 4096 actuator MEMS DM, developed by Boston Micromachines Corporation, using high performance optical mounting techniques rather than a typical laboratory set-up. Flexures are incorporated into the DM mount to reduce deformations on the optical surface due to thermal fluctuations. These flexures have also been sized to maintain alignment under varying gravity vector orientations. This paper is a follow-up to a previous paper which presented the preliminary design. The completed design of the opto-mechanical mounting scheme is discussed and results from finite element analysis are presented, including predicting the stability of the mirror surface in varying gravity vectors and thermal conditions.

In order to maintain image quality during Javalambre wide field telescope operations, deformations and rigid body motions must be actively controlled to minimize optical disturbances. For JST/T250 the aberrations of the telescope will be measured with four curvature sensors at the focal plane. To correct the measured distortions, the secondary mirror position (with a hexapod support) and the camera position can be modified in a control closed loop. Multiple software tools have been developed to accomplish this goal, constituting the "Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre" (OAJ) Active Optics Pipeline. We present a comprehensive analysis of the wave-front sensing system, including the availability of reference stars, pupil registration, wavefront estimators and the iteration matrix evaluation techniques. Some preliminary simulations have been made using a telescope model with a Optical Ray Tracing Software.

In this paper, we present two original concepts of deformable mirrors to compensate for first orders optical aberrations with a minimum number of actuators: one optical mode is generated with one actuator. The Variable O_-Axis parabola (VOALA) concept is a 3-actuators, 3-modes system able to generate independently Focus, Astigmatism3 and Coma3. The Correcting Optimized Mirror with a Single Actuator (COMSA) is a 1-actuator system able to generate a given combination of optical aberrations. The limited number of degrees of freedom of such systems makes them easy to set up and monitor, which is a significant advantage, notably for space use.

As the costs of space missions continue to rise, the demand for compact, low mass, low-cost technologies that maintain high reliability and facilitate high performance is increasing. One such technology is the stabilized dispersive focal plane system (SDFPS). This technology provides image stabilization while simultaneously delivering spectroscopic or direct imaging functionality using only a single optical path and detector. Typical systems require multiple expensive optical trains and/or detectors, sometimes at the expense of photon throughput. The SDFPS is ideal for performing wide-field low-resolution space-based spectroscopic and direct-imaging surveys. In preparation for a suborbital flight, we have built and ground tested a prototype SDFPS that will concurrently eliminate unwanted image blurring due to the lack of adequate platform stability, while producing images in both spectroscopic and direct-imaging modes. We present the overall design, testing results, and potential scientific applications.

Architecture choices impact planning and scheduling of activity sequences for two widely separated spacecraft envisioned to be part of an astrophysics mission to observe extra-solar-planets. The two spacecraft consist of a large space telescope and an external occulter, separated by tens of thousands of kilometres. The science need is to maintain alignment at the tens of milliarcseconds level (~ metres) or less on given target stars after moving one of the spacecraft tens of thousands of kilometres. Doing this efficiently presents operational and architectural design challenges that rely on appropriate choice of navigation, propulsion, and alignment technologies, vehicle configuration, and activity scheduling strategies—an extensive combination of which may potentially be chosen from for such a mission. Challenges inherent in the general system architecture are described with emphasis on potential problems and the need for sound and appropriate integration of architecture planning, subsystem choice, and activity scheduling.

The apodizing phase plate (APP) is a solid-state pupil optic that clears out a D-shaped area next to the core of the ensuing PSF. To make the APP more efficient for high-contrast imaging, its bandwidth should be as large as possible, and the location of the D-shaped area should be easily swapped to the other side of the PSF. We present the design of a broadband APP that yields two PSFs that have the opposite sides cleared out. Both properties are enabled by a half-wave liquid crystal layer, for which the local fast axis orientation over the pupil is forced to follow the required phase structure. For each of the two circular polarization states, the required phase apodization is thus obtained, and, moreover, the PSFs after a quarter-wave plate and a polarizing beam-splitter are complementary due to the antisymmetric nature of the phase apodization. The device can be achromatized in the same way as half-wave plates of the Pancharatnam type or by layering self-aligning twisted liquid crystals to form a monolithic film called a multi-twist retarder. As the VAPP introduces a known phase diversity between the two PSFs, they may be used directly for wavefront sensing. By applying an additional quarter-wave plate in front, the device also acts as a regular polarizing beam-splitter, which therefore furnishes high-contrast polarimetric imaging. If the PSF core is not saturated, the polarimetric dual-beam correction can also be applied to polarized circumstellar structure. The prototype results show the viability of the vector-APP concept.

Circular phase mask concepts represent promising options for high contrast imaging and spectroscopy of exo-planets. Depending on their design, they can either work as a diffraction suppression system or as a focal plane wavefront sensor. While the apodized Roddier coronagraph uses a π-phase mask to obtain complete suppression of the star image in monochromatic light, the Zernike sensor uses a π/2-phase mask to measure the residual aberrations in the focal plane by encoding them into intensity variations in the relayed pupil. Implementations of the Zernike sensor can be considered in exoplanet imagers such as VLT-SPHERE, Gemini planet imager, Palomar-P1640 or Subaru-SCExAO to enlarge their capabilities. However, such concepts have not been validated experimentally up to now. Our goal is to perform lab demonstration of this concept on our visible coronagraph testbed at LAM and to propose an upgrade design for SPHERE. In this communication, we report on results of lab measurements of the Zernike sensor and determine its sensitivity to small wavefront errors.

The K-Band Multi-Object Spectrometer Integral Field Unit (KMOS IFU) is a complex optical instrument with over a thousand diamond machined optical surfaces. Many of these surfaces are highly unorthodox and extremely difficult to characterise accurately. In this paper, we summarise the analysis of form and surface texture measurements made on these complex surfaces. In particular we focus on a general analysis of all the form measurement results. The measurement of such a large number of surfaces offers an unprecedented opportunity for the general analysis of form errors in complex diamond machined surfaces. The wealth of statistical information is of exceptional value in the refinement of the manufacturing process. In particular, we analyse in some detail the variation of form error contributions with spatial frequency. In general, there is a substantial reduction in form error contribution with spatial frequency. This form error variation with spatial frequency may also be modelled using Zernike polynomials. This approach is particularly suited to optical modelling of systems incorporating such perturbed components. As such, this knowledge can be applied directly to the modelling of form errors in new optical designs. Application to tolerance modelling of future instrument designs is discussed.

For the Euclid mission a Pre-Development phase is implemented to prove feasibility of individual components of the system [1]. The Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) of EUCLID requires high precision large lens holders (Ø170 mm) at cryogenic temperatures (150K). The four lenses of the optical system are made of different materials: fused silica, CaF2, and LF5G15 that are mounted in a separate lens barrel design. Each lens has its separate mechanical interface to the lens barrel, the so called adaption ring. The performance of the lens holder design is verified by adapted test equipment and test facility including an optical metrology system. The characterization of the lens deformation and displacement (decenter, tilt) due to mechanical loads of the holder itself as well as thermally induced loads are driven by the required submicron precision range and the operational thermal condition. The surface deformation of the lens and its holder is verified by interferometric measurements, while tilt and position accuracy are measured by in-situ fibre based distance sensors. The selected distance measurement sensors have the capability to measure in a few mm range with submicron resolution in ultra high vacuum, in vibration environments and at liquid nitrogen temperatures and below. The calibration of the measurement system is of crucial importance: impacts such as temperature fluctuation, surface roughness, surface reflectivity, straylight effects, etc. on the measured distance are carefully calibrated. Inbuilt thermal expansion effects of the fibre sensors are characterized and proven with lens dummy with quasi zero CTE. The paper presents the test results and measured performance of the high precision large cryogenic lens holders attained by the metrology system. These results are presented on behalf of the EUCLID consortium.

Structural materials with extremely low coecient of thermal expansion (CTE) are crucial to enable ultimate accuracy in terrestrial as well as in space-based optical metrology due to minimized temperature dependency. Typical materials, in particular in the context of space-based instrumentation are carbon-ber reinforced plastics (CFRP), C/SiC, and glass ceramics, e.g. Zerodur, ULE or Clearceram. To determine the CTE of various samples with high accuracy we utilize a highly symmetric heterodyne interferometer with a noise level below 2 pm√Hz at frequencies above 0.1 Hz. A sample tube made out of the material under investigation is vertically mounted in an ultra-stable support made of Zerodur. Measurement and reference mirrors of the interferometer are supported inside the tube using thermally compensated mounts made of Invar36. For determination of the CTE, a sinusoidal temperature variation is radiatively applied to the tube. One of the essential systematic limitations is a tilt of the entire tube as a result of temperature variation. This tilt can simultaneously be measured by the DWS technique and can be used to correct the measurement. Using a Zerodur tube as a reference, it is shown that this eect can be reduced in post processing to achieve a minimum CTE measurement sensitivity <10 ppb/K.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Telescope Element (OTE) consists of a 6.6 meter clear aperture, all-reflective, three-mirror anastigmat. The 18-segment primary mirror (PM) presents unique and challenging assembly, integration, alignment and testing requirements. A full aperture center of curvature optical test is performed in cryogenic vacuum conditions at the integrated observatory level to verify PM performance requirements. Two wavefront calibration tests are utilized to verify the low and mid/high spatial frequency performance of the test system. In this paper the methods and results of the wavefront calibration tests are presented.

Improving the precision of observational astronomy requires not only new telescopes and instrumentation, but also advances in observing protocols, calibrations and data analysis. The Laser Applications Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland has been applying advances in detector metrology and tunable laser calibrations to problems in astronomy since 2007. Using similar measurement techniques, we have addressed a number of seemingly disparate issues: precision flux calibration for broad-band imaging, precision wavelength calibration for high-resolution spectroscopy, and precision PSF mapping for fiber spectrographs of any resolution. In each case, we rely on robust, commercially-available laboratory technology that is readily adapted to use at an observatory. In this paper, we give an overview of these techniques.

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) consists of a large number of 12m-diameter antennas that will operate up to 950GHz. To guarantee the scientific requirement in terms of pointing stability and residual delay, a dynamic and thermal Metrology System has to be integrated in the antenna. As a matter of fact, the antennas have to work at full performances in free air, in the night and in the day. Consequently, the performances are affected by all the nonrepeatable error sources, such as temperature variations and wind, blowing from different directions. The antenna is a very light and stiff structure, the elevation structure is in carbon fibre with also a very low thermal expansion coefficient, but in order to meet the ALMA specifications, thermal and dynamic corrections have to be applied. The Thermal Metrology is composed by a number of thermal sensors distributed on the antenna that compensate the elevation axis deformation due to temperature variations. The dynamic Metrology is based on two high-accuracy inclinometers with a very short recovery time, opportunely placed on the main structure. This report shows the results of the tests performed on the AEM antennas with both systems. The good performance of the systems, allowing the antenna to meet the specification during all observation condition and mode, is thus evident.

An imaging displacement sensor (IDS) has been developed that can measure the displacement with an accuracy of 30 nm in 0.03 s with the precision improving to 1 nm for averaging times of 100 s. The IDS consists simply of a light emitting diode (LED) pinhole collimator and a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera chip. The position accuracy is better than 0.05% over the few mm CCD size with deviation from linearity <140 nm. All six degrees of freedom (DoF), three translations and three angles, can be measured with the same accuracy by combining multiple IDS with different collimator beam orientations and knowing the nominal separation between the collimators and CCDs.

The image moment-based wavefront sensing (IWFS) utilizes moments of focus-modulated focal plane images to determine modal wavefront aberrations. This permits fast, easy, and accurate measurement of wavefront error (WFE) on any available finite-sized isolated targets across the entire focal plane (FP) of an imaging system, thereby allowing not only in-situ full-field image quality assessment, but also deterministic fine alignment correction of the imaging system. We present an experimental demonstration where fine alignment correction of a fast camera system in a fiber-fed astronomical spectrograph, called VIRUS, is accomplished by using IWFS.

A software configurable optical test system (SCOTS) based on fringe reflection was implemented for measuring the primary mirror segments of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). The system uses modulated fringe patterns on an LCD monitor as the source, and captures data with a CCD camera and calibrated imaging optics. The large dynamic range of SCOTS provides good measurement of regions with large slopes that cannot be captured reliably with interferometry. So the principal value of the SCOTS test for GMT is to provide accurate measurements that extend clear to the edge of the glass, even while the figure is in a rough state of figure, where the slopes are still high. Accurate calibration of the geometry and the mapping also enable the SCOTS test to achieve accuracy that is comparable measurement accuracy to the interferometric null test for the small- and middle- spatial scale errors in the GMT mirror.

Full aperture interferometric metrology has enabled fabrication and verification of large primary mirrors with nm precision. The measurement of mirrors that are several meters in diameter with flat or convex aspheric surfaces can be performed using interferometric measurements of overlapping subaperture regions, then stitching the date from these measurements together to provide a full map. This paper explores the application of this measurement technique for very large mirrors, and discusses issues for measuring large flat or convex mirrors.

The principles for the realization of rewritable point-diffraction interferometers (PDIs) based on photochromic polyurethane films are described. Pinholes of variable sizes (diameter from 4 to 40 μm) have been optically written onto photochromic substrates converting locally the material from the colored to the uncolored form. The PDIs have been mounted in an interferometric setup and different reflective optics have been tested. By a controlled bleaching of the semi-transparent area around the pinhole, an optimal visibility in the interferograms is reached. Under this conditions several tests of reliability of the interferometer have been carried out.

We describe the optical test of a large flat based on a spherical mirror and a dedicated CGH. The spherical mirror, which can be accurately manufactured and tested in absolute way, allows to obtain a quasi collimated light beam, and the hologram performs the residual wavefront correction. Alignment tools for the spherical mirror and the hologram itself are encoded in the CGH. Sensitivity to fabrication errors and alignment has been evaluated. Tests to verify the effectiveness of our approach are now under execution.

We investigate the possibility to produce photochromic CGHs with maskless lithography methods. For this purpose, optical properties and requirements of photochromic materials will be shown. A diarylethene-based polyurethane is developed and characterized. The resolution limit and the in uence of the writing parameters on the produced patterns, namely speed rate and light power, have been determined. After the optimization of the writing process, gratings and Fresnel Zone Plates are produced on the photochromic layer and diraction eciencies are measured. Improvements and perspectives will be discussed.

Ground based near-infrared observations have long been plagued by poor sensitivity when compared to visible observations as a result of the bright narrow line emission from atmospheric OH molecules. The GNOSIS instrument recently commissioned at the Australian Astronomical Observatory uses Photonic Lanterns in combination with individually printed single mode fibre Bragg gratings to filter out the brightest OH-emission lines between 1.47 and 1.70μm. GNOSIS, reported in a separate paper in this conference, demonstrates excellent OH-suppression, providing very “clean” filtering of the lines. It represents a major step forward in the goal to improve the sensitivity of ground based near-infrared observation to that possible at visible wavelengths, however, the filter units are relatively bulky and costly to produce. The 2nd generation fibre OH-Suppression filters based on multicore fibres are currently under development. The development aims to produce high quality, cost effective, compact and robust OH-Suppression units in a single optical fibre with numerous isolated single mode cores that replicate the function and performance of the current generation of “conventional” photonic lantern based devices. In this paper we present the early results from the multicore fibre development and multicore fibre Bragg grating imprinting process.

For the PRV instrument using simultaneous calibration technique such as with sources like thorium lamps, Fabry Perot Etalons or laser comb, it is essential that the instrument stays stable between the wavelength calibration frame and the actual scientific measurement. These instruments are usually in pressure and temperature controlled environments for example under vacuum. However this is not sufficient to reach the instrumental stability required to get to precision level of the ms^-1 and below required to build the next generation PRV instruments. Another requirement is an as constant as possible illumination of the spectrograph to stabilize the line profile of the instrument. To achieve this, it is necessary to use a device that will scramble the light coming from the star to mitigate the effects of the atmosphere. In addition this device should not increase significantly the beam etendue, which is already a technological challenge for large telescopes. The common solution to this problem is to use optical fibers. Historically the solution has been to use circular fibers as they were the only one available. Recently for other purposes non-circular fibers have been developed and made available. They have been tested, and present an important improvement in the scrambling over the circular fibers. We will present in this paper the properties of the octagonal fibers used for the HARPS-N2 instrument and the achieved performance of its fiber train.

Optical fibres play more and more important roles in astronomy, for example, to transfer light from the focus point of telescopes to spectrometers. In this paper, a novel designed, a fibre-brush-shape converter was designed to transfer circle input of a fibre to a line-shape output. The brush-shape converter consists of several bare fibres at one end, one fibre at the other end and a taper between them. The light propagating from the bare fibres to the single fibre will be coupled. According to the theoretical and calculated results, the power of the light could be confined in the core of the fibre if the parameters of the taper are appropriate.

In this paper we present theoretical and laboratory results on integrated directly-written photonic lanterns with varying taper lengths. These lanterns convert seeing-limited light into multiple diffraction limited signals, in other words, a multimode signal into multiple single-mode signals. We investigated 19-channel structures which were written within a 30-mm-long glass block and designed to operate at 1550 nm. A single structure consisted of a multimode waveguide which transitioned into an array of single-mode waveguides and then back to a multimode waveguide utilizing cosine taper transitions. Based on simulations we found that transition lengths of 6 mm were sufficient to obtain throughput at a level of ~95%. Fabricated devices showed losses (coupling and transition losses) at the level of 30% for injection F/# < 5 and taper lengths < 5 mm. We believe that such devices show great promise for future use in astronomy.

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a fiber fed multi-object spectrometer for the Subaru Telescope that will conduct a variety of targeted surveys for studies of dark energy, galaxy evolution, and galactic archaeology. The key to the instrument is a high density array of fiber positioners placed at the prime focus of the Subaru Telescope. The system, nicknamed “Cobra”, will be capable of rapidly reconfiguring the array of 2394 optical fibers to the image positions of astronomical targets in the focal plane with high accuracy. The system uses 2394 individual “SCARA robot” mechanisms that are 7.7mm in diameter and use 2 piezo-electric rotary motors to individually position each of the optical fibers within its patrol region. Testing demonstrates that the Cobra positioner can be moved to within 5μm of an astronomical target in 6 move iterations with a success rate of 95%. The Cobra system is a key aspect of PFS that will enable its unprecedented combination of high-multiplex factor and observing efficiency on the Subaru telescope. The requirements, design, and prototyping efforts for the fiber positioner system for the PFS are described here as are the plans for modular construction, assembly, integration, functional testing, and performance validation.

Following the successful commissioning of SAMI (Sydney-AAO Multi-object IFU) the AAO has undertaken concept studies leading to a design of a new instrument for the AAT (Hector). It will use an automated robotic system for the deployment of fibre hexabundles to the focal plane. We have analysed several concepts, which could be applied in the design of new instruments or as a retrofit to existing positioning systems. We look at derivatives of Starbugs that could handle a large fibre bundle as well as modifications to pick and place robots like 2dF or OzPoz. One concept uses large magnetic buttons that adhere to a steel field plate with substantial force. To move them we replace the gripper with a pneumatic device, which engages with the button and injects it with compressed air, thus forming a magnet preloaded air bearing allowing virtually friction-less repositioning of the button by a gantry or an R-Theta robot. New fibre protection, guiding and retraction systems are also described. These developments could open a practical avenue for the upgrade to a number of instruments.

A multiple pick off mirror positioning sub-system has been developed as a solution for the deployment of mirrors within multi-object instrumentation such as the EAGLE instrument in the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The positioning sub-system is a two wheeled differential steered friction drive robot with a footprint of approximately 20 x 20 mm. Controlled by RF communications there are two versions of the robot that exist. One is powered by a single cell lithium ion battery and the other utilises a power floor system. The robots use two brushless DC motors with 125:1 planetary gear heads for positioning in the coarse drive stages. A unique power floor allows the robots to be positioned at any location in any orientation on the focal plane. The design, linear repeatability tests, metrology and power continuity of the robot will be evaluated and presented in this paper. To gather photons from the objects of interest it is important to position POMs within a sphere of confusion of less than 10 μm, with an angular alignment better than 1 mrad. The robots potential of meeting these requirements will be described through the open-loop repeatability tests conducted with a Faro laser beam tracker. Tests have involved sending the robot step commands and automatically taking continuous measurements every three seconds. Currently the robot is capable of repeatedly travelling 233 mm within 0.307 mm at 5 mm/s. An analysis of the power floors reliability through the continuous monitoring of the voltage across the tracks with a Pico logger will also be presented.

Starbugs are miniature piezoelectric 'walking' robots with the ability to simultaneously position many optical fibres across a telescope's focal plane. Their simple design incorporates two piezoceramic tubes to form a pair of concentric 'legs' capable of taking individual steps of a few microns, yet with the capacity to move a payload several millimetres per second. The Australian Astronomical Observatory has developed this technology to enable fast and accurate field reconfigurations without the inherent limitations of more traditional positioning techniques, such as the 'pick and place' robotic arm. We report on our recent successes in demonstrating Starbug technology, driven principally by R&D efforts for the planned MANIFEST (many instrument fibre-system) facility for the Giant Magellan Telescope. Significant performance gains have resulted from improvements to the Starbug system, including i) the use of a vacuum to attach Starbugs to the underside of a transparent field plate, ii) optimisation of the control electronics, iii) a simplified mechanical design with high sensitivity piezo actuators, and iv) the construction of a dedicated laboratory 'test rig'. A method of reliably rotating Starbugs in steps of several arcminutes has also been devised, which integrates with the pre-existing x-y movement directions and offers greater flexibility while positioning. We present measured performance data from a prototype system of 10 Starbugs under full (closed-loop) control, at field plate angles of 0-90 degrees.

Many heating units exist on the fiber positioning device of LAMOST, and the heat has certain effect on the observation of telescope. Experimental and theoretical analysis methods are proposed in this paper to study the heat effect on the focal plane caused by heating units. In this paper, we mainly describe the experimental part. A temperature acquisition system is established on a simplified focal plane on which a group of fiber positioning units are installed. The thermal imager is used to determine the heating parts of the fiber positioning units. Thermocouples are bonded on the surface of heating parts and focal plane to sense the temperature change and the curve of the results are shown in LabVIEW. Temperature data obtained by the experiment is applied as initial conditions of theoretical analysis and a comparison with the analysis result. The thermal analysis software I-DEAS will be used to analyze the temperature field of the simplified focal plane, then a comparison will be made between experimental and theoretical analysis to confirm the rationality of simulation models for further research of LAMOST fiber positioning device. Based on the above research objectives, arrange the experiment. The research results have instructive significance for the LAMOST focal plane cooling solutions.

We present a new concept for a Doppler imaging remote sensing instrument to track moving objects within a wide field of view using a compact multi-object Dispersed Fixed-Delay Interferometer (DFDI). The instrument is a combination of a Michelson type interferometer with a fixed optical delay and a medium resolution spectrograph. This takes advantage of the strength of the DFDI approach over the traditional cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph approach for high radial velocity (RV) precision measurements: multi-object capability, high throughput and a compact design. The combination of a fiber integral field unit (IFU) with a DFDI instrument allows simultaneous sampling of all of the objects within the observing field of view (FOV) to provide differential RV measurements of moving objects over background objects. Due to the three dimensional nature of the IFU spectroscopy the object location and spectral features can be simultaneously acquired. With the addition of RV signals to the measurements, this approach allows precise extraction of trajectories and spectral properties of moving objects (such as space debris and near Earth Objects (NEOs)) through sequential monitoring of moving objects. Measurement results from moving objects in a lab as well as moving cars in a field using this innovative approach are reported.

In addition to their compactness, scalability and specific task customization, optical MEMS could generate new functions not available with current technologies and are thus candidates for the design of future space instruments. Most mature components for space applications are the Digital Mirror Device (DMD) from Texas Instruments (TI), the micro-deformable mirrors, the Programmable Micro Diffraction Grating and the tiltable micro-mirrors. Among 20-30 MEMS-based payloads concepts, two concepts are selected. The first concept is a programmable slit for straylight control for space spectro-imagers. This instrument is a push-broom spectro-imager for which some images cannot be exploited because of bright sources in the field-of-view. The proposed concept consists in replacing the current entrance spectrometer slit by an active row of micro-mirrors. The MEMS will permit to dynamically remove the bright sources and then to obtain a field-of-view with an optically enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. The second concept is a push-broom imager for which the acquired spectrum can be tuned by optical MEMS. This system is composed of two diffractive elements and a TI’s DMD component. The first diffractive element spreads the spectrum. A micro-mirror array is set at the location of the spectral focal plane. By putting the micro-mirrors ON or OFF, we can select parts of field-of-view or spectrum. The second diffractive element then recombines the light on a push-broom detector. Dichroics filters, strip filter, band-pass filter could be replaced by a unique instrument.

Multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) is a powerful tool for space and ground-based telescopes for the study of the formation and evolution of galaxies. This technique requires a programmable slit mask for astronomical object selection. We are engaged in a European development of micromirror arrays (MMA) for generating reflective slit masks in future MOS, called MIRA. The 100 x 200 μm² micromirrors are electrostatically tilted providing a precise angle. The main requirements are cryogenic environment capabilities, precise and uniform tilt angle over the whole device, uniformity of the mirror voltage-tilt hysteresis and a low mirror deformation. A first MMA with single-crystal silicon micromirrors was successfully designed, fabricated and tested. A new generation of micromirror arrays composed of 2048 micromirrors (32 x 64) and modelled for individual addressing were fabricated using fusion and eutectic wafer-level bonding. These micromirrors without coating show a peak-to-valley deformation less than 10 nm, a tilt angle of 24° for an actuation voltage of 130 V. Individual addressing capability of each mirror has been demonstrated using a line-column algorithm based on an optimized voltage-tilt hysteresis. Devices are currently packaged, wire-bonded and integrated to a dedicated electronics to demonstrate the individual actuation of all micromirrors on an array. An operational test of this large array with gold coated mirrors has been done at cryogenic temperature (162 K): the micromirrors were actuated successfully before, during and after the cryogenic experiment. The micromirror surface deformation was measured at cryo and is below 30 nm peak-to-valley.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) relies on several innovations to complete its five year mission. One vital technology is microshutters, the programmable field selectors that enable the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) to perform multi-object spectroscopy. Mission success depends on acquiring spectra from large numbers of galaxies by positioning shutter slits over faint targets. Precise selection of faint targets requires field selectors that are both high in contrast and stable in position. We have developed test facilities to evaluate microshutter contrast and alignment stability at their 35K operating temperature. These facilities used a novel application of image registration algorithms to obtain non-contact, sub-micron measurements in cryogenic conditions. The cryogenic motion of the shutters was successfully characterized. Optical results also demonstrated that shutter contrast far exceeds the NIRSpec requirements. Our test program has concluded with the delivery of a flight-qualified field selection subsystem to the NIRSpec bench.

Laser frequency combs (LFC) provide a direct link between the radio frequency (RF) and the optical frequency regime. The comb-like spectrum of an LFC is formed by exact equidistant laser modes, whose absolute optical frequencies are controlled by RF-references such as atomic clocks or GPS receivers. While nowadays LFCs are routinely used in metrological and spectroscopic fields, their application in astronomy was delayed until recently when systems became available with a mode spacing and wavelength coverage suitable for calibration of astronomical spectrographs. We developed a LFC based calibration system for the high-resolution echelle spectrograph at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT), located at the Teide observatory, Tenerife, Canary Islands. To characterize the calibration performance of the instrument, we use an all-fiber setup where sunlight and calibration light are fed to the spectrograph by the same single-mode fiber, eliminating systematic effects related to variable grating illumination.

We here discuss recent progress on astronomical optical frequency comb generation at innoFSPEC-Potsdam. Two different platforms (and approaches) are numerically and experimentally investigated targeting medium and low resolution spectrographs at astronomical facilities in which innoFSPEC is currently involved. In the first approach, a frequency comb is generated by propagating two lasers through three nonlinear stages – the first two stages serve for the generation of low-noise ultra-short pulses, while the final stage is a low-dispersion highly-nonlinear fibre where the pulses undergo strong spectral broadening. In our approach, the wavelength of one of the lasers can be tuned allowing the comb line spacing being continuously varied during the calibration procedure – this tuning capability is expected to improve the calibration accuracy since the CCD detector response can be fully scanned. The input power, the dispersion, the nonlinear coefficient, and fibre lengths in the nonlinear stages are defined and optimized by solving the Generalized Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation. Experimentally, we generate the 250GHz line-spacing frequency comb using two narrow linewidth lasers that are adiabatically compressed in a standard fibre first and then in a double-clad Er/Yb doped fibre. The spectral broadening finally takes place in a highly nonlinear fibre resulting in an astro-comb with 250 calibration lines (covering a bandwidth of 500 nm) with good spectral equalization. In the second approach, we aim to generate optical frequency combs in dispersion-optimized silicon nitride ring resonators. A technique for lowering and flattening the chromatic dispersion in silicon nitride waveguides with silica cladding is proposed and demonstrated. By minimizing the waveguide dispersion in the resonator two goals are targeted: enhancing the phase matching for non-linear interactions and producing equally spaced resonances. For this purpose, instead of one cladding layer our design incorporates two layers with appropriate thicknesses. We demonstrate a nearly zero dispersion (with +/- 4 ps/nm-km variation) over the spectral region from 1.4 to 2.3 microns. The techniques reported here should open new avenues for the generation of compact astronomical frequency comb sources on a chip or in nonlinear fibres.

Radial velocity (RV) surveys supported by high precision wavelength references (notably ThAr lamps and I2 cells) have successfully identified hundreds of exoplanets; however, as the search for exoplanets moves to cooler, lower mass stars, the optimum wave band for observation for these objects moves into the near infrared (NIR) and new wavelength standards are required. To address this need we are following up our successful deployment of an H band(1.45-1.7μm) laser frequency comb based wavelength reference with a comb working in the Y and J bands (0.98-1.3μm). This comb will be optimized for use with a 50,000 resolution NIR spectrograph such as the Penn State Habitable Zone Planet Finder. We present design and performance details of the current Y+J band comb.

Ring resonators are a looped waveguide coupled to an input and an output waveguide. They can be used to filter, and drop, a series of wavelengths at the resonant frequencies of the ring. Both these properties are useful for astronomical applications. The dropped signal provides a frequency comb that can be used to provide accurate wavelength calibration. The free spectral range of such a device is larger than that from a laser comb, removing the requirement to perform subsequent filtering. The filtered signal could be used to suppress specific wavelengths, e.g. corresponding to atmospheric emission lines. We present the expected performance of devices designed for both applications and discuss their advantages and limitations.

We present a proof of concept compact diffraction limited high-resolution fiber-fed spectrograph by using a 2D multicore array input. This high resolution spectrograph is fed by a 2D pseudo-slit, the Photonic TIGER, a hexagonal array of near-diffraction limited single-mode cores. We study the feasibility of this new platform related to the core array separation and rotation with respect to the dispersion axis. A 7 core compact Photonic TIGER fiber-fed spectrograph with a resolving power of around R~31000 and 8 nm bandwidth in the IR centered on 1550 nm is demonstrated. We also describe possible architectures based on this concept for building small scale compact diffraction limited Integral Field Spectrographs (IFS).

We are developing an integral field unit (IFU) with an image slicer for the existing optical imaging spectrograph, Faint Object Camera And Spectrograph (FOCAS), on the Subaru Telescope. Basic optical design has already finished. The slice width is 0.4 arcsec, slice number is 24, and field of view is 13.5x 9.6 arcsec. Sky spectra separated by about 3 arcmin from an object field can be simultaneously obtained, which allows us precise background subtraction. The IFU will be installed as a mask plate and set by the mask exchanger mechanism of FOCAS. Slice mirrors, pupil mirrors and slit mirrors are all made of glass, and their mirror surfaces are fabricated by polishing. Multilayer dielectric reflective coating with high reflectivity (< 98%) is made on each mirror surface. Slicer IFU consists of many mirrors which need to be arraigned with high accuracy. For such alignment, we will make alignment jigs and mirror holders made with high accuracy. Some pupil mirrors need off-axis ellipsoidal surfaces to reduce aberration. We are conducting some prototyping works including slice mirrors, an off-axis ellipsoidal surface, alignment jigs and a mirror support. In this paper, we will introduce our project and show those prototyping works.

The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI) of Durham University (UK) has recently successfully completed the development of 24 Integral Field Units (IFUs) for the K-band Multi-Object Spectrometer (KMOS). KMOS is a second generation instrument for ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) which is due for delivery during the summer of 2012. The KMOS IFU is based on the Advanced Image Slicer Concept developed by the CfAI and previously successfully implemented on the Gemini Near-InfraRed Spectrograph and JWST NIRSpec. Each IFU contains 14 channels which have to be accurately aligned. In addition, all 24 IFUs have to be co-aligned requiring the accurate alignment of an unprecedented grand total of 1152 optical surfaces. In this paper we describe how this has been achieved through the use of complex monolithic multi-faceted metal mirror arrays, which were fabricated in-house by means of freeform diamond machining. We will summarise the results from the metrology performed on each of the optical components and describe how these were integrated and aligned into the system. We will also summarise the results from the system level acceptance tests, which demonstrate the excellent performance of the IFUs. Each of the 24 IFUs is essentially diffraction limited across the entire field (Strehl ratios ~ 0.8) with throughput predictions (based on measurements of the surface roughness) rising from 86% at a wavelength of 1 micron to 93% at 2.5 micron. We believe that this level of performance has not previously been achieved in any image slicing IFU and showcases the potential of the current state-of-the-art technology.

HARMONI, the High Angular Resolution Monolithic Optical & Near-infrared Integral field spectrograph is one of two first-light instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope. Over a 256x128 pixel field-of-view HARMONI will simultaneously measure approximately 32,000 spectra. Each spectrum is about 4000 spectral pixels long, and covers a selectable part of the 0.47-2.45 μm wavelength range at resolving powers of either R≈4000, 10000, or 20000. All 32,000 spectra are imaged onto eight HAWAII4RG detectors using a multiplexing scheme that divides the input field into four sub-fields, each imaged onto one image slicer that in turn re-arranges a single sub-field into two long exit slits feeding one spectrograph each. In total we require eight spectrographs, each with one HAWAII4RG detector. A system of articulated and exchangeable fold-mirrors and VPH gratings allows one to select different spectral resolving powers and wavelength ranges of interest while keeping a fixed geometry between the spectrograph collimator and camera avoiding the need for an articulated grating and camera. In this paper we describe both the field splitting and image slicing optics as well as the optics that will be used to select both spectral resolving power and wavelength range.

We developed the technology of microslice integral field units some years ago as the next step in SAURON type microlens IFU design with typically 5 times more spatial elements (spaxels) for the same spectrograph and spectral length aiming at 1,000,000 spaxels IFUs. A full instrument for laboratory demonstration composed of the fore-optics, the IFU, the spectrograph and the detector has now been built and tested. It has about 10,000 spatial elements and spectra 150 pixel long. Our IFU has 5 cylindrical microlens arrays along the optical axis as opposed to one hexagonal array in the previous design. Instead of imaging pupils on the spectrograph input focal plane, our IFU images short slitlets 17 pixel long that keep the spatial information along the spatial direction then giving 17 spaxels per slitlet instead of one in pupil imaging. This removes most of the lost space between spectra leaving place for more and keeps the spatial information over the element size while pupil images lose it. The fore-optics re-images the field on the input of the IFU. They are made of cylindrical optics to get the desired different magnifications in both directions. All the optics and detector fit in a cylinder 35 mm in diameter and 280 mm long. With a different set of fore-optics on a 4-m telescope, a field of 43" x 6.7" with spatial elements of 0.14" x 0.22" could be observed so 12 of these mini-spectrographs would cover a field surface area of about 1 arcmin² and 120,000 spaxels.

Sodium laser guide stars (LGS) are used, or planned to be used, as single or multiple artificial beacons for Adaptive Optics in many present or future large and extremely large telescopes projects. In our opinion, several aspects of the LGS have not been studied systematically and thoroughly enough in the past to ensure optimal system designs. ESO has designed and built, with support from industry, an experimental transportable laser guide star unit, composed of a compact laser based on the ESO narrow-band Raman Fiber Amplifier patented technology, attached to a 30cm launch telescope. Besides field tests of the new laser technology, the purpose of the transportable unit is to conduct field experiments related to LGS and LGS-AO, useful for the optimization of future LGS-AO systems. Among the proposed ones are the validation of ESO LGS return flux simulations as a function of CW and pulsed laser properties, the feasibility of line-of-sight sodium profile measurements via partial CW laser modulation and tests of AO operation with elongated LGS in the EELT geometry configuration. After a description of the WLGSU and its main capabilities, results on the WLGSU commissioning and LGS return flux measurements are presented.

NIST-calibrated detectors will be used by the ground-based 100mm diameter Astronomical Extinction Spectrophotometer (AESoP) to calibrate the spectral energy distributions of bright stars to sub-1% per 1nm spectral resolution element accuracy. AESoP will produce about a hundred spectroradiometrically calibrated stars for use by ground- and space-based sensors. This will require accurate and near-continuous NIST calibration of AESoP, an equatorially mounted objective spectrophotometer operating over the wavelength range 350nm – 1050nm using a CCD detector. To provide continuous NIST calibration of AESoP in the field a near-identical, removable 100mm diameter transfer standard telescope (CAL) is mounted physically parallel to AESoP. The CAL transfer standard is calibrated by NIST end-to-end, wavelength-by-wavelength at ~ 1nm spectral resolution. In the field, CAL is used in a near-field configuration to calibrate AESoP. Between AESoP science observations, AESoP and CAL simultaneously observe clear sub-apertures of a 400mm diameter calibration collimator. Monochromatic light measured simultaneously by AESoP and CAL is dispersed by the objective grating onto the AESoP pixels measuring the same wavelength of starlight, thus calibrating both wavelength and instrumental throughput, and simultaneously onto a unique low-noise CAL detector providing the required throughput measurement. System sensitivity variations are measured by vertically translating the AESoP/CAL pair so that CAL can observe the AESoP sub-aperture. Details of this system fundamental to the calibration of the spectral energy distributions of stars are discussed and its operation is described. System performance will be demonstrated, and a plan of action to extend these techniques firstly into the near infrared, then to fainter stars will be described.

Astronomical instrumentation is most of the time faced with challenging requirements in terms of sensitivity, stability, complexity, etc., and therefore leads to high performance developments that at first sight appear to be suitable only for the specific design application at the telescope. However, their usefulness in other disciplines and for other applications is not excluded. The ERA2 facility is a lab demonstrator, based on a high-performance astronomical spectrograph, which is intended to explore the innovation potential of fiber-coupled multi-channel spectroscopy for spatially resolved spectroscopy in life science, material sciences, and other areas of research.

Currently, every single instrument using NIR detectors is cooled down to cryogenic temperatures to minimize the thermal flux emitted by a warm instrument. Cryogenization, meaning reaching very low operating temperatures, is a must when the K band is needed for the science case. This results in more complex and more expensive instruments. However, science cases that do not benefit from observing in the K band, like the detection of exoplanets around M dwarfs through the radial velocity technique, can make use of non-cryogenic instruments. The CARMENES instrument is implementing a cooling system which could allow such a solution. It is being built by a consortium of eleven Spanish and German institutions and will conduct an exoplanet survey around M dwarfs. Its concept includes two spectrographs, one equipped with a CCD for the range 550-950 nm, and one with HgCdTe detectors for the range from 950-1700 nm, covering therefore the YJH bands. In this contribution, different possibilities are studied to reach the final cooling solution to be used in CARMENES, all of them demonstrated to be feasible, within the requirements of the SNR requested by the science case.

Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) OH suppression is capable of greatly reducing the bright sky background seen by near infrared spectrographs. By filtering out the airglow emission lines at high resolution before the light enters the spectrograph this technique prevents scattering from the emission lines into interline regions, thereby reducing the background at all wavelengths. In order to take full advantage of this sky background reduction the spectrograph must have very low instrumental backgrounds so that it remains sky noise limited. Both simulations and real world experience with the prototype GNOSIS system show that existing spectrographs, designed for higher sky background levels, will be unable to fully exploit the sky background reduction. We therefore propose PRAXIS, a spectrograph optimised specifically for this purpose. The PRAXIS concept is a fibre fed, fully cryogenic, fixed format spectrograph for the J and H-bands. Dark current will be minimised by using the best of the latest generation of NIR detectors while thermal backgrounds will be reduced by the use of a cryogenic fibre slit. Optimised spectral formats and the use of high throughput volume phase holographic gratings will further enhance sensitivity. Our proposal is for a modular system, incorporating exchangeable fore-optics units, integral field units and OH suppression units, to allow PRAXIS to operate as a visitor instrument on any large telescope and enable new developments in FBG OH suppression to be incorporated as they become available. As a high performance fibre fed spectrograph PRAXIS could also serve as a testbed for other astrophotonic technologies.

The instrumentation of many space missions requires operation in cryogenic temperatures. In all the cases, the use of mechanisms in this environment is a matter of concern, especially when long lifetime is required. With the aim of removing lifetime concerns and to benefit from the cryogenic environment, a cryogenic contactless linear mechanism has been developed. It is based on the levitation of a permanent magnet over superconductor disks. The mechanism has been designed, built, and tested to assess the performances of such technology. The levitation system solves the mechanical contact problems due to cold-welding effects, material degradation by fatigue, wearing, backlash, lubrication...etc, at cryogenic temperatures. In fact, the lower is the temperature the better the superconductor levitation systems work. The mechanism provides a wide stroke (18mm) and high resolution motion (1μm), where position is controlled by changing the magnetic field of its environment using electric-magnets. During the motion, the moving part of the mechanism levitates supported by the magnetic interaction with the high temperature type II superconductors after reaching the superconductor state down to 90K. This paper describes the results of the complete levitation system development, including extensive cryogenic testing to measure optically the motion range, resolution, run-outs and rotations in order to characterize the levitation mechanism and to verify its performance in a cryogenic environment.

The high reliability of the mechanisms of any space instrument is one of the most critical and challenging requirements. This is even more pronounced in the case of cryogenic instruments, such as the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to be flown on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – which will be cooled down to below 7 K. MIRI hosts three wheel mechanisms for filter, grating and dichroic selection. All of them have an open loop torque drive and thus the precise characterisation of the mechanisms and their motors is fundamental to achieve minimum heat load and maximum reliability of the mechanism movements over the lifetime. In this paper we present the overview of the characterisation and verification of the MIRI wheel mechanisms. Our method is based on measuring back EMF voltages generated by the two phase cold redundant motors of the wheel mechanisms after they had been fully integrated into the MIRI optical module. We present the analysis of the data and the resulting performance increase. We discuss the optimisation of the open loop drive, as well as the verification of the measurement results and the physical model of the motors and mechanisms.

The Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph, or METIS, is foreseen as the third instrument for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). A key part of METIS is the Cold Chopper (MCC) which switches the optical beam between the target and a nearby reference sky during observation for elimination of the fluctuating IR background signal in post-processing. This paper discusses the development of the MCC demonstrator. The chopper mirror (Ø64mm) has to tip/tilt in 2D with a combined angle of up to 13.6mrad with 1.7μrad stability and repeatability within 5ms (95% duty cycle at 5Hz) at 80K. As these requirements cannot be met in the presence of friction or backlash, the mirror is guided by a monolithically integrated flexure mechanism. The angular position is actuated by three linear actuators and measured by three linear position sensors, resulting in a fast tip, tilt, and focus mirror. Using the third actuator to introduce symmetry, homogeneity in forces and heat flux is obtained. Both the actuators and the sensors are key components. A voice coil actuator had to be custom designed, to achieve the required acceleration force within the specified 1W heat load. The requirements for the displacement measurement can be met with a commercially available, fiber interferometry system. For integration of this system, stray light elimination is a critical design aspect and retro-reflectors have been used to reflect sufficient power into the fiber at large tip/tilt angles.

Polished 1.5m bare beryllium, off-axis aspheric mirror segments, constituting the cryogenic primary mirror of NASA's ambitious Flagship Mission, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), have been successfully completed at L-3 Communications -Tinsley. Tinsley has finished the secondary, tertiary, fine steering and spare mirrors as well. We will describe both the end results, where it was demonstrated that visible quality mirror results can be achieved on large extremely lightweighted compliant off-axis mirrors, and the steps taken at Tinsley to achieve these results. Over 26 square-meters of bare beryllium were optically processed twice, first for room temperature figure, then for the cryo-null figure for the cryogenic differences.

ZERODUR^® is a well-established material in astronomy and all fields of applications where temperature gradients might limit extreme precision and stability. Together with its rich heritage come a series of recent developments, which reveal the potential of the material for broader and more demanding applications. The outstanding degree of light-weighting achieved with progress in CNC grinding in the last two years shows its high suitability for space telescope mirrors. This is supported by new data on strength enabling higher mechanical loads. Also ground based telescopes benefit from the improved light-weight processing such as solar telescopes and downstream mirrors of extremely large telescopes. More and better data have been collected demonstrating the unique CTE homogeneity of ZERODUR^® and its very high reproducibility a necessary precondition for large series mirror production. Deliveries of more than 250 ZERODUR mirrors of 1.5 m in diameter prove the availability of robust industrial serial production capability inevitable for ELT mirror segment production.

Sagem – Reosc has been awarded by ESO a contract for the manufacturing and testing of seven prototype segments of the E-ELT primary mirror in 2008. The purpose of this contract was to demonstrate the ability to produce aspherical off-axis hexagonal segments with very little edge effect and very high quality wavefront error and plan the production of the 931 segments needed for the primary mirror and spares. The manufacturing of the prototype segments is now completed. They have been delivered. Sagem has achieved for the best segment integrated on its support an overall surface error of 23 nm RMS and 6 nm RMS after removal of the allowed amount of Focus, Astigmatism and Trefoil. This article will present the process developped by Sagem and its performance. Sagem has also assessed the performances of an alternate manufacturing process based on the polishing of the segments under stress conditions (Stress Mirror Polishing). The results obtained by this process will also be presented.

Latest progress on Tinsley methods are described for faster stress mirror polishing (SMP) of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) primary mirror segments as well as the European Extremely Large Telescope (EELT). Most recent data is shown which illustrates that the SMP process is capable of producing very smooth surfaces to 1um PV, independent of the segment type being produced.

Mankind loves space and is drawn to explore its vastness. Existing space telescopes routinely encounter data losses and delayed data collections during the constantly changing temperature and load disruptions of space missions. The harsh environment of space thermal cycles and spacecraft motion loads create unwanted activity such as spacecraft slew, acquisition slew, and temperature induced blur. In order to compensate for the low performance of the materials currently used for telescope optics, engineers and designers are using costly on-board coolers, mechanical actuators, and deformed mirrors, for example, with limited success. However, Zero-defect Single Crystal Silicon (SCSi) can perform in space environments without coolers, actuators, and other such devices because SCSi is not ductile and is homogeneous and therefore is not subject to creep, and will not jitter, or blur during operations. To take advantage of the unique advantages of Zero-defect SCSi, we are developing and fabricating a Cryostable All-Silicon Imaging Telescope (CAIT). In this paper, we will discuss the basis for selecting SCSi for our space telescope design, the status of the CAIT design and fabrication progress, and compare SCSi thermal and strength properties with other typical space optical materials.

Through the years many stable optical mounts have been designed, analyzed and tested at TNO. This paper gives an overview of the design principles used. Various examples are presented together with verification test results. The use of adhesives in combination with an iso-static mount design allows mounting of optical components in a limited volume with limited deformation of the optical surfaces due to thermal and mechanical loads. Relatively large differences in thermal expansion over large temperature ranges can be overcome using a simple and predictable design at reasonable costs. Despite adhesives have limited dimensional stability and loadability, stable optical mounts can be realized when proper design principles are used.

The Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) of EUCLID requires high precision large lens holders (Ø170 mm) at cryogenic temperatures (150 K). The lenses of the optical system are glued into separate lens holders, the so called adaption rings. For the selection and verification of a suitable adhesive extensive glue selection tests are performed and results presented in this paper. With potential glue candidates, handling, single lap shear, connection tension and shear tests are carried out at room temperature (RT) and 150 K (OPS). For the NISP optical system DP490 is selected as the most suitable adhesive. The test results have shown that an even distribution of the glue in the glue gap is of crucial importance for the functioning and performance of the bonded lens system. The different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between lens and lens holder produce large local mechanical stress and might cause lens breakage or failure of bonding. The design of the injection channel and the gluing procedure are developed to meet the lens performance requirements. An example is shown that after thermal cycling the remaining 0.5 mm – 1 mm thick adhesive in the injection channel results in large local mechanical stresses, and hence, damage of the lens. For a successful performance of the glue interface not only an optimum glue gap of 80 – 150 μm is important, also micro-cracks of the glass at the gluing area have to be avoided. The performed glue tests with DP490 for 3 different lens/ring material combinations show sufficient mechanical tension and shear strength for bonding of the lens system. Titanium/LF5G15 and Invar/Fused Silica combinations have reached the strength of 30 MPa at RT and 50 GPa at 150 K. These results are presented on behalf of the EUCLID consortium.

Throughout the history of telescopes and astronomical instrumentation, new ways were found to open up unexplored possibilities in fundamental astronomical research by increasing the telescope size and instrumentation complexity. The ever demanding requirements on instrument performance pushes instrument complexity to the edge. In order to take the next leap forward in instrument development the optical design freedom needs to be increased drastically. The use of more complex and more accurate optics allows for shorter optical trains with smaller sizes, smaller number of components and reduced fabrication and alignment verification time and costs. Current optics fabrication is limited in surface form complexity and/or accuracy. Traditional active and adaptive optics lack the needed intrinsic long term stability and simplicity in design, manufacturing, verification and control. This paper explains how and why active arrays literally provide a flexible but stable basis for the next generation optical instruments. Combing active arrays with optically high quality face sheets more complex and accurate optical surface forms can be provided including extreme a-spherical (freeform) surfaces and thus allow for optical train optimization and even instrument reconfiguration. A zero based design strategy is adopted for the development of the active arrays addressing fundamental issues in opto-mechanical engineering. The various choices are investigated by prototypes and Finite Element Analysis. Finally an engineering concept will be presented following a highly stable adjustment strategy allowing simple verification and control. The Optimization metrology is described in an additional paper for this conference by T. Agócs et al.

This paper addresses two challenges in establishing a new process chain for polishing hexagonal segments for extremely large telescopes:- i) control of edge and corner profiles in small-tool polishing of hexagons, and ii) achieving the required smoothness of the bulk aspheric form. We briefly describe the performance of a CNC-grinding process used to create the off-axis asphere, which established the input-quality for subsequent processing. We then summarize processes for smoothing ground mid-spatials and pre- and corrective polishing using Zeeko CNC machines. The impact of two cases is considered; i) all processing stages are performed after the segment is cut hexagonal, and ii) final rectification of a hexagon after cutting from an aspherised roundel, as an alternative to ionfiguring. We then report on experimental results on witness samples demonstrating edges and corners close to the EELT segment specification, and results on a full-aperture spherical segment showing excellent surface smoothness.

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a next-generation optical/infrared telescope to be constructed on Mauna Kea, Hawaii toward the end of this decade, as an international project. Its 30 m primary mirror consists of 492 off-axis aspheric segmented mirrors. This paper describes the progress of the test fabrication of an outermost mirror segment for the TMT as a joint R&D program between National Astronomical Observatory and Canon. A zero-expansion glass CLEARCERAM™ blank was polished by a computer-controlled small-tool polishing machine (CSSP, Canon) and its surface shape was measured by a touch-probe measuring machine(A-Ruler, Canon). Residuals of lower Zernike terms of the surface shape were 11 nmRMS, clearing the original specifications based on the structure function. There remains, however, a need to fulfill latest revised specifications. Possible solutions to improve and achieve the new specifications and a plan for revising the process for mass production are also described.

Production of segments for the Giant Magellan Telescope is well underway at the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab. We report on the completion of the first 8.4 m off-axis segment, the casting of the second segment, and preparations for manufacture of the remaining segments. The complete set of infrastructure for serial production is in place, including the casting furnace, two 8.4 m capacity grinding and polishing machines, and a 28 m test tower that incorporates four independent measurement systems. The first segment, with 14 mm p-v aspheric departure, is by some measures the most challenging astronomical mirror ever made. Its manufacture took longer than expected, but the result is an excellent figure and demonstration of valuable new systems that will support both fabrication and measurement of the remaining segments. Polishing was done with a 1.2 m stressed lap for smoothing and large-scale figuring, and a series of smaller passive rigid-conformal laps for deterministic figuring on smaller scales. The interferometric measurement produces a null wavefront with a 3-element asymmetric null corrector including a 3.8 m spherical mirror and a computer-generated hologram. In addition to this test, we relied heavily on the new SCOTS slope test with its high accuracy and dynamic range. Evaluation of the measured figure includes simulated active correction using both the 160-actuator mirror support and the alignment degrees of freedom for the off-axis segment.

One of the most challenging tasks for future X-ray observatories is the enhancement of collecting area combined with very good angular resolution. Light-weight mirror materials, such as thin glass sheets, are needed to achieve this aims within the mass limits. We are developing a technology based on indirect hot slumping of thin glass segments. This technique enables us to produce the parabolic and hyperbolic part of the Wolter type I mirrors in one piece. Currently we focus on a combination of a ceramic slumping mould and glass type D263. The experimental set-up in our laboratories as well as the slumping process are described in detail; furthermore we report on the metrology methods used for measuring the glass sheets and moulds. Finally the results of the X-ray tests of several integrated glass sheets are presented.

Mid-infrared, 25 - 45 microns, is a very important wavelength region to investigate the physics of lower temperature environments in the universe. There are few transparent materials in the range of mid-infrared except silicon. However, the reflection on a silicon surface reaches 30 % because of its high refractive index (~3.4). To apply silicon to mid-infrared astronomical instruments, we need a way of antireflection and have adopted a moth-eye structure. This structure keeps durable under cryogenic environments, which is advantageous to mid-infrared instruments. We have fabricated three samples of the moth-eye structure on plane silicon surfaces by electron-beam photo-lithograph and reactive ion etching. The structures consist of many cones standing on silicon surfaces. We have substantiated the transmittance of 96 % or higher in the wide range of 20 - 50 microns and higher than 98 % at the maximum. The transmittance of moth-eye surfaces, however, is theoretically expected as 100 %. We have examined the discrepancy between the transmittance of the theory and fabrications with electromagnetic simulations. It has been revealed that shapes of the cones and gaps at the bottom of the cones seriously affect the transmittance. We have estimated a few tolerances for manufacturing the moth-eye structures achieving sufficient transmittance of nearly 100 %.

We report on the on-going effort at University of California Observatories Astronomical Coatings Lab to develop robust protected-silver coatings suitable for telescope mirrors. We have identified a very promising recipe based on YF₃ that produces excellent reflectivity at wavelengths of 340 nm and greater, has ~1.5% emissivity in the thermal IR, and does not contain problematic materials for the Mid-IR, such as SiO₂ and Al₂O₃. The recipe holds up extremely well to aggressive environmental testing (80C and 80% RH; high-H₂S atmosphere), and currently is being evaluated under real observatory conditions. This coating may satisfy the need for telescope mirror coatings that are long-lasting (~5 years or more) and have good reflectivity into the UV. We also evaluate and compare some other silver-based coatings developed elsewhere that should be useful in the same role. In addition, we describe recent upgrades to our coating facilities allowing us to deposit ion-assisted e-beam coatings on optics up to ~1m. This novel arrangement places the e-gun and ion source on a pivoting "swing-arm", allowing the position to move radially without changing the e-gun/ion source/ substrate geometry. Large substrates can be coated with good uniformity using single-axis rotation only. This technique is scalable to arbitrarily large substrate sizes.

Astronomical observations in the far--ultraviolet (FUV) spectral region are some of the more challenging due to the very distant and faint objects that are typically searched for in cosmic origin studies such as origin of large scale structure, the formation, evolution, and age of galaxies and the origin of stellar and planetary systems. The problem is compounded by the very limited option of reflecting coatings to use at FUV wavelengths and the modest reflectivity offered by those coatings such as Al+MgF₂ [typically 82 % at Lyman-alpha, 1216 Α) that are used on reflecting surfaces of FUV instrumentation. Improved reflective coatings for optics, particularly in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, could yield dramatically more sensitive instruments and permit more instrument design freedom. This paper will present recent advances in reflectance performance for Al+MgF₂ mirrors optimized for Lymanalpha wavelength by comparing an ambient or ”cold” deposition with another where the deposition temperature for the MgF₂ layer is done at elevated temperatures. We will also consider this improved procedure for the deposition of LiF over-coated Al mirrors in order to realize similar reflectivity gains at even shorter wavelengths.

The optimization of the uniformity of high precision optical filters is often a critical and time consuming procedure. The goal of the present paper is to evaluate critical factors that influence the thickness distribution on substrates during a magnetron sputter process. A new developed sputter coater “EOSS” was used to deposit SiO₂ and Nb₂O₅ single films and optical filters. It is based on dynamic deposition using a rotating turntable. Two sets of cylindrical double magnetrons are used for the low and the high index layers, respectively. In contrast to common planar magnetrons, the use of cylindrical magnetrons should yield a more stable distribution during the lifetime of the target. The thickness distribution on the substrates was measured by optical methods. Homogenization is carried out by shaping apertures. The distribution of the particle flow from the cylindrical magnetron was simulated using particle-in-cell Monte Carlo plasma simulation developed at Fraunhofer IST. Thickness profiles of the low index and the high index layers are calculated by numerical simulation and will be compared with the experimental data. Experimental factors such as wobbling of the magnetron during rotation, geometrical changes of critical components of the coater such as uniformity shapers as well as gas flow variations will be evaluated and discussed.

Optical coatings are an integral part of superior optical components. Astronomical applications (ground- and space-based) place especially high demands on these coatings, not only with regard to their optical performance but also to their mechanical and environmental stability, their thermal properties, and their radiation resistance. This article presents a short overview of several coating solutions developed in recent years at Fraunhofer IOF in order to meet the challenging demands of astronomical applications. The focus is placed on high reflective coatings for different wavelength regions including coatings for the VUV range below 100nm, coatings for the DUV wavelength range above 100nm and VIS/NIR/IR coatings. Further, amorphous silicon layers will be introduced which can be polished to very low roughness values and therefore can act as polishing layer for the manufacture of ultraprecise optical components from metal substrates.

There is a description of Astrositall^® properties including CTE distribution and CTE homogeneity distribution, examples of this material usage in production of astronomical and space optics. There are also results of long term testing of Astrositall^® material.

For years now conventional aluminium 6061 T6 has widely been used for mirrors in astronomical instruments, being diamond turned or since a few years also being optically polished. This allows the development of optical systems that can be tested and operated at any temperature, without being affected by CTE effects. Using traditional aluminium the manufacturing methods could in some cases not deliver the required surface shape, accuracy and roughness due to the increasing demands from optical systems. Over the last few years RSP Technology developed a new series of aluminium alloys for several applications, produced with a Rapid Solidification Process. Both on a macroscopic and microscopic level these new aluminium alloys have different material characteristics compared to the traditional aluminium alloys. TNO and NOVA-ASTRON have performed diamond turning and polishing tests on these new aluminium alloys. This paper presents results of several diamond turning and polishing tests obtained over the last year and show the potential of these new alloys with surface roughness values of 1 nm on RSA 6061 and RSA 708 acquired with both diamond turning and polishing.

Placed on the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, SPICA will operate in the 5 to 210 μm wavelength range. Astrium has been contracted by ESA/ JAXA to update the study of the SPICA telescope from a 3.5 m design (compatible to the Japanese HIIB launcher) to a 3.2 m design (compatible to the HII-A with the short 5S fairing): despite a similar fairing diameter, the shorter length of the fairing envelope results in a reduction of the M1-M2 distance and an associated diameter reduction of M1. Maximization of the M1-M2 distance within the constraints is important to maintain a reasonable polishing criteria of the main reflector. Therefore the M2 assembly sizing and the back focal length become main parameters for the telescope optical design. The main constraints are driven by the telescope requirements such as focal length, maximizing the diameter of M1 (3.2 m) and, M1 f-number (critical for the manufacturing aspects). The WFE must be below 350 nm rms, and operational temperature below 6K. . The main issues addressed in this paper are: - an improved telescope design based on the Astrium background in Silicon Carbide technology which has been tried-an-tested for mirrors and structural parts on several space projects, including HERSCHEL and Gaia (brazing, polishing, assembling, iso-static mountings). - performances which are taking advantage of the SiC properties ,such as homogeneity of the single-phase material inside the structure, and structural stability from ambient to the operational temperature range. Our study shows that the SiC telescope design can fulfil all the mechanical and optical requirements for SPICA. - the verification and optical tests definition which will be key elements in the qualification of the telescope to be incorporated in the logic of the satellite verification activity to be conducted in Japan.

Aspherical and freeform optical elements have a large potential in reducing optical aberrations and to reduce the number of elements in complex high performance optical systems. However, manufacturing a single piece or a small series of aspherical and freeform optics has for long been limited by the lack of flexible metrology tools. With the cooperative development of the NANOMEFOS metrology tool by TNO, TU/e and VSL, we are able to measure the form of aspheres and freeforms up to 500 mm in diameter with an accuracy better than 10 nm rms. This development opened the possibility to exploit a number of iterative, corrective manufacturing chains in which manufacturing technologies such as Single Point Diamond Turning, freeform grinding, deterministic polishing and classical polishing are combined in an iterative loop with metrology tools to measure form deviation (like CMM, LVDT contact measurement, interferometry and NANOMEFOS). This paper discusses the potentials, limitations and differences of iterative manufacturing chains used by TNO in the manufacturing of high performance optics for astronomical purposes such as the anufacturing of the L2 of the Optical Tube Assembly of the four laser-guide star facility of the ESO VLT, Manufacturing of Aluminium freeforms mirrors for the SCUBA-2 instrument. Based on these results we will give an outlook into the new challenges and solutions in manufacturing high-precision optics.

Ultra-lightweight and high-accuracy CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastics) mirrors for space telescopes were fabricated and their feasibility for low temperature applications was demonstrated. The CFRP mirrors were composed of sandwich panels with CFRP skins and CFRP honeycomb cores. Surface was deposited with epoxy thin layers by using a replica technique. The surface accuracy of the demonstrate mirrors of 150 mm in diameter was 0.8 μm RMS and the surface smoothness was improved to 5 nm RMS. Surface accuracy degradation was 0.6μm RMS (root mean square) from ambient temperature to liquid nitrogen. Surface asperity was classified with respect of their wave intervals and measurement areas. Surface accuracy and dimensional stability were strictly affected by raw materials and manufacturing conditions. Surface accuracy was measured at each process on the way of mirror forming. Manufacturing conditions to depress asperity were discussed.

Silicon immersion gratings offer size and cost savings for high-resolution near-infrared spectrographs. The IGRINS instrument at McDonald Observatory will employ a high-performance silicon immersion echelle grating to achieve spectral resolution R = λ/Δλ40,000 simultaneously over H and K near-infrared band atmospheric windows (1.5-2.5 μm). We chronicle the metrology of an R3 silicon immersion echelle grating for IGRINS. The grating is 30x80 mm, etched into a monolithic silicon prism. Optical interferometry of the grating surface in reflection indicates high phase coherence (<λ/6 peak to valley surface error over a 25 mm beam at λ= 632 nm). Optical interferometry shows small periodic position errors of the grating grooves. These periodic errors manifest as spectroscopic ghosts. High dynamic range monochromatic spectral purity measurements reveal ghost levels relative to the main diffraction peak at 1.6x10^-3 at λ = 632 nm in reflection, consistent with the interferometric results Improved grating surfaces demonstrate reflection-measured ghosts at negligible levels of 10^-4 of the main diffraction peak. Relative on-blaze efficiency is ~75%. We investigate the immersion grating blaze efficiency performance over the entire operational bandwidth 1500 <λ(nm) < 2500 at room temperature. The projected performance at operational cryogenic temperatures meets the design specifications.

We have developed the technology to manufacture an immersed grating in silicon for the Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph, METIS. We show that we can meet the required diffraction-limited performance at a resolution of 100000 for the L and M spectral bands. Compared to a conventional grating, the immersed grating drastically reduces the beam diameter and thereby the size of the spectrometer optics. As diffraction takes place inside the high-index medium, the optical path difference and angular dispersion are boosted proportionally, thereby allowing a smaller grating area and a smaller spectrometer size. The METIS immersed grating is produced on a 150 mm industry standard for wafers and replaces a classical 400 mm echelle. Our approach provides both a feasible path for the production of a grating with high efficiency and low stray light and improves the feasibility of the surrounding spectrometer optics. In this contribution we describe and compare the classical-grating solution for the spectrometer with our novel immersed-grating based design. Furthermore, we discuss the production route for the immersed grating that is based on our long-standing experience for space-based immersed gratings. We use standard techniques from the semiconductor industry to define grating grooves with nanometer accuracy and sub-nanometer roughness. We then use optical manufacturing techniques to combine the wafer and a prism into the final immersed grating. Results of development of the critical technology steps will be discussed.

Silicon immersion gratings (SIGs) offer several advantages over the commercial echelle gratings for high resolution infrared (IR) spectroscopy: 3.4 times the gain in dispersion or ~10 times the reduction in the instrument volume, a multiplex gain for a large continuous wavelength coverage and low cost. We present results from lab characterization of a large format SIG of astronomical observation quality. This SIG, with a 54.74 degree blaze angle (R1.4), 16.1 l/mm groove density, and 50x86 mm² grating area, was developed for high resolution IR spectroscopy (R~70,000) in the near IR (1.1-2.5 μm). Its entrance surface was coated with a single layer of silicon nitride antireflection (AR) coating and its grating surface was coated with a thin layer of gold to increase its throughput at 1.1-2.5 m. The lab measurements have shown that the SIG delivered a spectral resolution of R=114,000 at 1.55 m with a lab testing spectrograph with a 20 mm diameter pupil. The measured peak grating efficiency is 72% at 1.55 m, which is consistent with the measurements in the optical wavelengths from the grating surface at the air side. This SIG is being implemented in a new generation cryogenic IR spectrograph, called the Florida IR Silicon immersion grating spectrometer (FIRST), to offer broad-band high resolution IR spectroscopy with R=72,000 at 1.4-1.8 um under a typical seeing condition in a single exposure with a 2kx2k H2RG IR array at the robotically controlled Tennessee State University 2-meter Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope (AST) at Fairborn Observatory in Arizona. FIRST is designed to provide high precision Doppler measurements (~4 m/s) for the identification and characterization of extrasolar planets, especially rocky planets in habitable zones, orbiting low mass M dwarf stars. It will also be used for other high resolution IR spectroscopic observations of such as young stars, brown dwarfs, magnetic fields, star formation and interstellar mediums. An optimally designed SIG of the similar size can be used in the Silicon Immersion Grating Spectrometer (SIGS) to fill the need for high resolution spectroscopy at mid IR to far IR (~25-300 μm) for the NASA SOFIA airborne mission in the future.

Canon is developing wide variety of gratings that can be effective solutions for high precision spectroscopy for the next-generation ground-based and space telescopes. In this paper, we focus on our development of infrared immersion grating, which is one of the most demanding devices among various gratings. We use CdZnTe for mid-infrared (MIR) application and KRS5 for near-infrared (NIR) to MIR application. In particular, CdZnTe immersion grating is the key-device for the MIR high-resolution spectrograph for the space infrared telescope SPICA. Using our diamond cutting (planing) technique, grooves are shaped on the hypotenuse area (30 mm x 10 mm) of a CdZnTe prism with the spacing accuracy of < 5 nm (rms) and the surface roughness of < 5 nm (rms). We also performed cutting of KRS5 disk and confirmed that excellent grooves can be shaped on this material.

Volume Phase Holographic Gratings are interesting dispersing elements for astronomical instrumentation. An important point, in the realization of the grating, is the choice of the holographic material. Dichromated Gelatines (DCGs) are the best candidate, but they show some drawback especially regarding their water sensitivity and the complex developing process required to enhance their performances. New holographic materials are becoming interesting, such as photopolymers and photochromic materials. An exhaustive review of these classes of materials will be reported and their performances compared to those of DCGs, focusing mainly to the astronomical instrumentation field.

Ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) is a rapidly maturing technique which uses focused ultrashort laser pulses to locally modify the refractive index of dielectric materials in three-dimensions (3D). Recently, ULI has been applied to the fabrication of astrophotonic devices such as integrated beam combiners, 3D integrated waveguide fan-outs and multimode-to-single mode convertors (photonic lanterns). Here, we outline our work on applying ULI to the fabrication of volume phase gratings (VPGs) in fused silica and gallium lanthanum sulphide (GLS) glasses. The VPGs we fabricated had a spatial frequency of 333 lines/mm. The optimum fused silica grating was found to exhibit a first order diffraction efficiency of 40 % at 633 nm, but exhibited approximately 40 % integrated scattered light. The optimum GLS grating was found to exhibit a first order diffraction efficiency of 71 % at 633 nm and less than 5 % integrated scattered light. Importantly for future astronomy applications, both gratings survived cooling to 20 K. This paper summarises the grating design and ULI manufacturing process, and provides details of the diffraction efficiency performance and blaze curves for the VPGs. In contrast to conventional fabrication technologies, ULI can be used to fabricate VPGs in almost any dielectric material, including mid-IR transmitting materials such as the GLS glass used here. Furthermore, ULI potentially provides the freedom to produce complex groove patterns or blazed gratings. For these reasons, we believe that ULI opens the way towards the development of novel VPGs for future astronomy related applications.

A volume phase holographic grating (VPHG) achieves very high diffraction efficiency up to 100% for S or P polarized light at the first diffraction order. However, diffraction efficiency of the VPHG for non-polarized light becomes low according as Bragg angle becomes large, and bandwidth of diffraction efficiency becomes narrow according as refractive index modulation of grating lattice becomes small. A volume binary grating with rectangular lattice, consists of high and low refractive index media with large or small duty ratio, is able to achieve very high efficiency nearly 100% and a wide band width for both S and P polarization light. We have successfully fabricated germanium immersion gratings of step groove shape with resolving power of 45,000 at 10 micron by using a nano-precision 3D grinding machine and ELID (ELectrolytic In-process Dressing) method. However, the method requires a large amount of machine times and efforts. We had proposed a novel immersion grating with slot shape lattice of total reflection mirrors, which achieves high performance and lower fabrication cost. We describe the photolithography and the latest plasma nano-technologies for fabrications of the novel diffraction gratings in our presentation. We also introduce birefringence volume gratings in this article.

Modern electron beam lithography is a suitable technology for the fabrication of high performance gratings for spectroscopic applications. Due to a significant improved accuracy of the lithographic exposure the resulting gratings do show a very high wave-front quality, low stray-light, and grating ghosts. The high resolution accessible with e-beam writing can be used for sub-period engineering of the grating pattern in order to optimize the efficiency performance of the devices. This is demonstrated by different examples of pure dielectric reflection and transmission gratings developed for space missions. One is the Sentinel-4 earth observation mission; the second is the astrometry satellite GAIA of the ESA.

Advances in astronomy are often enabled by adoption of new technology. In some instances this is where the technology has been invented specifically for astronomy, but more usually it is adopted from another scientific or industrial area of application. The adoption of new technology typically occurs via one of two processes. The more usual is incremental progress by a series of small improvements, but occasionally this process is disruptive, where a new technology completely replaces an older one. One of the activities of the OPTICON Key Technology Network over the past few years has been a technology forecasting exercise. Here we report on a recent event which focused on the more radical, potentially disruptive technologies for ground-based, optical and infrared astronomy.

The next generation of focal-plane astronomical instruments requires technological breakthroughs to reduce their system complexity while increasing their scientific performances. Applied to the optical systems, recent studies show that the use of freeform reflective optics allows competitive compact systems with less optical components. In this context, our challenge is to supply an active freeform mirror system, using a combination of different active optics techniques. The optical shape will be provided during the fabrication using the mechanical property of metals to plasticize and will be coupled with a specific actuator system to compensate for the residual form errors, during the instrument operation phase. We present in this article the development of an innovative manufacturing process based on cold hydro-forming method, with the aim to adapt it for VIS/NIR requirements in terms of optical surface quality. It can operate on thin and flat polished initial substrates. The realization of a first prototype for a 100 mm optical diameter mirror is in progress, to compare the mechanical behaviours obtained by tests and by Finite Element Analysis (FEA), for different materials. Then, the formed samples will be characterized optically. The opto-mechanical results will allow a fine tuning of FEA parameters to optimize the residual form errors obtained through this process. It concerns the microstructure considerations, the springback effects and the work hardening evolutions of the samples, depending on the initial substrate properties and the boundary conditions applied. Modeling and tests have started with axi-symmetric spherical and aspherical shapes and will continue with highly aspherics and freeforms.

The next generation of ground-based astronomical observatories will require fabrication and maintenance of extremely large segmented mirrors tens of meters in diameter. At present, the large production of segments required by projects like E-ELT and TMT poses time frames and costs feasibility questions. This is principally due to a bottleneck stage in the optical fabrication chain: the final figuring step. State-of-the-art figure correction techniques, so far, have failed to meet the needs of the astronomical community for mass production of large, ultra-precise optical surfaces. In this context, Reactive Atom Plasma (RAP) is proposed as a candidate figuring process that combines nanometer level accuracy with high material removal rates. RAP is a form of plasma enhanced chemical etching at atmospheric pressure based on Inductively Coupled Plasma technology. The rapid figuring capability of the RAP process has already been proven on medium sized optical surfaces made of silicon based materials. In this paper, the figure correction of a 3 meters radius of curvature, 400 mm diameter spherical ULE^® mirror is presented. This work demonstrates the large scale figuring capability of the Reactive Atom Plasma process. The figuring is carried out by applying an in-house developed procedure that promotes rapid convergence. A 2.3 μm p-v initial figure error is removed within three iterations, for a total processing time of 2.5 hours. The same surface is then re-polished and the residual error corrected again down to λ/20 nm rms. These results highlight the possibility of figuring a metre-class mirror in about ten hours.

Recent advances in detection and characterization of exo-planets have led to increasing standards for repeatability of spectral-line detection of novel high-resolution spectrographs. This is important for exo-planet research but also has its impact on astroseismology and the study of variable stars. For these purposes optical fibres bear a huge advantage due to their improved scrambling ability - but this is subject to fundamental limits. This investigation gives experimental support for the theoretical proposals made in a companion paper which uses a ray-tracing approach. We will concentrate on the mechanisms that cause incomplete scrambling in order to gain insight in the true nature of scrambling, unlike previous mainly phenomenological studies. We describe the experimental setup that will be used to determine the fibre response to input beam parameters like focal ratio, tilt and offset. Preliminary experimental results are consistent with the theoretical predictions made and thus motivating a further exploration of these phenomena.

We describe the fiber optics systems for use in BigBOSS, a proposed massively parallel multi-object spectrograph for the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-m telescope that will measure baryon acoustic oscillations to explore dark energy. BigBOSS will include 5,000 optical fibers each precisely actuator-positioned to collect an astronomical target’s flux at the telescope prime-focus. The fibers are to be routed 40m through the telescope facility to feed ten visible-band imaging spectrographs. We report on our fiber component development and performance measurement program. Results include the numerical modeling of focal ratio degradation (FRD), observations of actual fibers’ collimated and converging beam FRD, and observations of FRD from different types of fiber terminations, mechanical connectors, and fusion-splice connections.

The BigBOSS experiment is a proposed DOE-NSF Stage IV dark energy survey. The all sky survey will be used to study the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and growth of large scale structure from 0.2 < z < 3.5. Key to the timely success of BigBOSS is the total optical throughput of the system. The guide, focus/alignment system will provide essential pointing information, eld acquisition, atmospheric monitoring and alignment corrections all used to maximize light throughput.

The BigBOSS instrument is a proposed multi-object spectrograph for the Mayall 4m telescope at Kitt Peak, which will measure the redshift of 20 million galaxies and map the expansion history of the universe over the past 8 billion years, surveying 10-20 times the volume of existing studies. For each 20 minute observation, 5000 optical fibers are individually positioned by a close-packed array of 5000 robotic positioner mechanisms. Key mechanical constraints on the positioners are: ø12mm hardware envelope, ø14mm overlapping patrol zones, open-loop targeting accuracy ≤ 40μm, and step resolution ≤ 5μm, among other requirements on envelope, power, stability, and speed. This paper describes the design and performance of a newly-developed fiber positioner with R-θ polar kinematics, in which a flexure-based linear R-axis is stacked on a rotational θ-axis. Benefits over the usual eccentric parallel axis θ-φ kinematic approach include faster repositioning, simplified anti-collision schemes, and inherent anti-backlash preload. Performance results are given for complete positioner assemblies as well as sub-component hardware characterization.

We have developed a novel metrology system for precision XY measurements based on a concept developed originally in an industrial vision context by which USB cameras observe a target with a special dots pattern. The system has then been extended to Rx-Ry (tip-tilt), Z and Rz measurements by adding more cameras within a suitable configuration. The basic principle is described, first validated on a preliminary experimental implementation used for testing a new type of hexapod. We then illustrate the setup designed as calibration bench for hexapods used as positioning devices of the secondary mirrors of astronomical telescopes. While work is still ongoing for improving this new metrology system, currently achieved performances are a stability of is ≤1 μm along linear degrees of freedom, respectively 0.5 arcsec for tip-tilt; absolute accuracy over ranges of a few millimeters is 5-10 μm , respectively arcsec; incremental accuracy is 2-3 μm, respectively 5 arcsec.

The optical fiber positioner with double revolving mechanism is driven by two stepping motors. One stepping motor drives center revolving mechanism and the other drives decentered slewing mechanism. Photogrammetry is currently used to detect the positioning accuracy of the optical fiber positioner, but it cannot achieve high precision because of the small size of the fiber’s diameter. So, a new measurement device, which mainly contained optical microscope, CCD camera and two-dimensional precision mobile platform, was established in this paper. One end of the optical fiber (the other end was lighted by integrating sphere light source) was imaged on the CCD sensor in a magnified way through the optical microscope, and the image was processed to build the position feedback mechanism in real time. Then the two-dimensional mobile platform was controlled by PID control method to track the optical fiber, and the fiber was always kept to locate in center of the CCD image in order to eliminate the aberrations of the optical microscope lens. Finally, the position changes of the moving fiber could be obtained by the coordinates of the two-dimensional precision mobile platform. The experimental results demonstrate that the resolution of this measurement device is 0.1μm and the accuracy of repeat positioning is 1.5μm. The measurement device could satisfy the testing requirement.

The large sky area multi-object fiber spectroscopic telescope (LAMOST) is an innovative reflecting schmidt telescope, promising a very high spectrum acquiring rate of several ten-thousands of spectra per night. By using the parallel controllable fiber positioning technique, LAMOST makes reconfiguration of fibers accurately according to the positions of objects in minutes and fine adjusting the fibers. As a key problem, High precision positioning detection of LAMOST fiber positioning unit has always been highly regarded and some detection schemes have been proposed. Among these, active detection method, which determines the final accurate position of optical fiber end with the help of lighting the fiber, has been most widely researched, but this kind of method could not be applied in LAMOST real-time observation because it needs projecting light into fiber. A novel detection idea exploiting the technique of template matching is presented in this paper. As we know, final position of a specific fiber end can be easily inferred by its corresponding revolving angles of the central revolving axle and bias revolving axle in double revolving style, so the key point in this problem is converted to the accurate determination of these revolving angles. Template matching technique are explored to acquire the matching parameters for its real-time collected imagery, and thus determine the corresponding revolving angle of the central revolving axle and bias revolving axle respectively. Experiments results obtained with data acquired from LAMOST site are used to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of this novel method.

Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope – LAMOST, with a 1.75m-diameter focal plane on which 4000 optical fibers are arranged, is one of major scientific projects in China. During the surveying process of LAMOST, the optical imaging system makes the astrometric objects be imaged in the focal plane, and the optical fiber positioning system controls the 4000 fibers to be aligned with these objects and obtain their spectrum. In order to correct the positioning error of these optical fibers, the CCD camera is used to detect these fibers’ position in the way of close-range photogrammetry. As we all know, the calibration quality of the CCD camera is one of the most important factors for detection precision. However, the camera calibration has two following problems in the field work of LAMOST. First, the camera parameters are not stable due to the changes of on-site work environment and the vibration during movement. So, the CCD camera must be on-line calibrated. Second, a large-size high-precision calibration target is needed to calibrate the camera, for the focal plane is very big. Making such a calibration target, it is very difficult and costly. Meanwhile, the large calibration target is hard to be fixed on LAMOST because of the space constraint. In this paper, an improved bundle adjustment self-calibration method is proposed to solve the two problems above. The results of experiment indicate that this novel calibration method needs only a few control points while the traditional calibration methods need much more control points to get the same accuracy. So the method could realize the on-line high-precision calibration of CCD camera for LAMOST.

The power losses introduced by bending multimode optical fibres have been studied since the last forty years, when the efficient transmission of those fibres was regarded as very useful for devices that require the transmission of spatially incoherent light (white light), e.g. Integral Field Units (IFU) for Astrophysics. In the literature, the influence of the fibre coating on transmission properties is rarely taken in account, i.e. the fibres under test are frequently stripped, however, in practical applications the fibres are used with their coating. We present the results of an experimental study of attenuation due to bending stress on several large-core multimode coated optical fibres. In this experiment the attenuation is studied as a function of applied stress in kilo pounds squared inches [kpsi]. The fibres under test are similar to the type of optical fibre used in astronomy for fibre based spectroscopic applications, or used as probes for chemical sensing applications. We investigate a range of different core diameters for both all-silica and hard cladding step-index fibres. Optical-fibres manufacturers are offering a variety of coating materials and, the tested fibres are coated with the following: silicone, polyimide, two types of fluorine doped acrylate, and acrylate. We show that for a given coating material, applying the same bending stress on fibers introduces the same amount of attenuation, regardless of the fibre bending radius or fibre core diameter. We also show differences in attenuation due to the use of different coating material.

The OPTIMOS-EVE concept provides optical to near-infrared (370-1700 nm) spectroscopy, with three spectral resolution (5000, 15000 and 30000), with high simultaneous multiplex (at least 200). The optical fibre links are distributed in four kinds of bundles: several hundreds of mono-object systems with three types of bundles, fibre size being used to adapt spectral resolution and 30 deployable medium IFUs (about 2"x3"). We are optimising the design of deployable IFUs to warrant sky subtraction for the faintest extragalactic sources. This paper gives the design and results of the prototype for the high resolution mode and the preliminary design of a medium IFU developed in collaboration between the GEPI and the LNA.

We present preliminary results on on-sky test of sky subtraction methods for fiber-fed spectrograph. Using dedicated observation with FLAMES/VLT in I-band, we have tested the accuracy of the sky subtraction for 4 sky subtraction methods: mean sky, closest sky, dual stare and cross-beam switching. The cross beam-switching and dual stare method reach accuracy and precision of the sky subtraction under 1%. In contrast to the commonly held view in the literature, this result points out that fiber-fed spectrographs are adapted for the observations of faint targets.

WEAVE is a new wide-field spectroscopy facility proposed for the prime focus of the 4.2m William Herschel telescope. The facility comprises a new 2 degree field of view prime focus corrector with a 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, a small number of individually deployable IFUs, and a large single IFU. The IFUs and the MOS fibres can be used to feed a dual-beam spectrograph that will provide full coverage of the majority of the visible spectrum in a single exposure at a resolution ~5000 or two 50nm-wide regions at a resolution of ~20000. This paper sums up the design of these two modes and describes the specific developments required to optimise the performances of the fibre system.

Optical fibre tapers show great promise as a simple and highly effective means of efficiently coupling broadband light into astronomical instruments. Fibre tapers can replace bulk optics systems such as focal plane reduction and magnification optics by controlling and manipulating image scale and beam angle in a small, robust and cost effective device. However, like any new photonic device fibre tapers must be thoroughly characterised before they can be applied to astronomy. The specific characteristics of importance are the device’s ability to maintain the etendue of the system and to transmit light over a broad wavelength range with minimal loss. In this paper we present the manufacturing technique and preliminary results for the first large taper transition prototype devices manufactured in-house intended for astronomy applications. Characteristics addressed include: beam angle, focal ratio degradation and throughput for devices with a conversion ratio of 5 (5 x focal reduction or magnification) for two taper transition lengths.

Photonic Lanterns are a fibre-based component performing the adiabatic conversion from a multimode fibre to a series of single-mode fibres. This conversion is required for combining fibre-based instruments used in astronomy with complex photonic functions. As any fibre-based system, the optical properties of the Photonic Lanterns need to be fully evaluated. In this paper, we present results on the performance of a 1-to-61 Photonic Lantern in terms of spectral transmission and modal noise characteristics. Firstly, we compare the spectra obtained at the output of two photonic lanterns spliced together in multimode-to-multimode configuration with spectra obtained when transmitting light through step-index single-mode and multimode fibres. We then show that the photonic lantern is generating less modal noise than a step-index multimode fibre of same core diameter, when it is submitted to bending and stretching, and we propose an interpretation of this result based on static mode scrambling performance and single-mode behavior.

We discuss the development of multi-core fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) to be applied to astrophotonics, more specifically to near-infrared spectroscopy for ground-based instruments. The multi-core FBGs require over 100 notches to reject the OH lines in a broad wavelength range (160 nm). The number of cores of the fiber should correspond to the mode number in the multi-mode fibers and should be large enough to be able to capture a sufficient amount of light from the telescope. A phase-mask based technique is used to fabricate the multi-core FBGs.

We report on the performances measured at room temperature, before and after a cryogenic cooling cycle, of a set of NIR Volume Phase Holographic Gratings (VPHGs) manufactured at the Miguel Hernández University (UMH, Elche, Spain) aimed at their use in astronomical instrumentations. VPHGs are novel optical components which can replace standard ruled transmission gratings, offering some advantages. Instead of a surface modulation, a diffraction index modulation printed in a volume of material generates the diffraction according to the required specifications. While VPHGs are becoming an option for instruments working in the optical regime at room temperature, their use is still minimal in the NIR wavebands due to the stringent requirements impose by the cryogenic environment. But their good properties in terms of high transmission and compact mechanical design are kept even in cryogenic, so efforts to develop such devices functional at cryogenic temperatures are underway in several institutions. We report results on transmission of newly manufactured VPHGs. These results were achieved through a collaborative effort within the European network OPTICON WP6, “New Materials and Processes in Astronomical Instrumentation”, and whose participating institutions are Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Universidad Miguel Hernández, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (INAF) and Politecnico di Milano.

Volume phase holographic gratings (VPHGs) are dispersing elements widely used in astronomical instrumentation thanks to some unique features (for example, the peak efficiency can reach 95%). The introduction of a slant angle to the fringes allow an increased versatility of these elements. The efficiencies of some samples produced by Kaiser Optical Systems Inc. are reported and discussed. Moreover, some cases of interest in the astronomical field are reported.

Achieving high reflectivity from an immersed grating facet can be challenging in the near infrared. The reflectivity of metallic coatings in common use, such as Al and Cr/Au, decrease with decreasing wavelength in the near IR. A layer of copper on ZnSe or ZnS should have a high, immersed reflectivity based on tabulated values of refractive index, but in fact performs poorly. We attribute this to a chemical reaction between the copper and the selenium or sulfur. A non-reactive intermediate layer can prevent this problem. Since reflectivity at an interface increases with increasing difference in refractive index, it is beneficial to choose an intermediate layer of low index. A further improvement is gained by adjusting the layer thickness so that reflections from the two interfaces of the intermediate layer add constructively. We sputtered 130 nm of SiO₂ onto ZnSe and ZnS substrates followed by 200 nm of Cu. The copper was then coated with 5 nm of SiC as a protective capping layer. Immersed reflectivity measured shortly after coating exceeded 95% between 1500 and 1100 nm and exceeded 90% down to 850 nm. A repeat measurement after long term exposure to high humidity conditions showed no changes.

We diamond fly cut 2 sets of germanium grisms for the LMIRcam 3-5 micron Fizeau imager for the combined focus of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The grisms mount in a filter wheel near a pupil to enable moderate resolution (R~300) spectroscopy. Both sets have a measured blaze angle of 2.9°. The first set has a groove period of 40 lines/mm and will be used in first order with peak efficiency at 3.6 μm. The second set has 32 lines/mm. It can operate in first order with an efficiency peak near 4.4 μm and in second order with a peak near 2.3 μm. First results from testing the grisms in the instrument on the sky with the LBT are presented.

The LSST design foresees the use of six wide-band large optical filters that can alternatively be moved in front of the CCD camera. Each of the six filters has a different band-pass covering all the wavelengths from 300 nm to 1200 nm. The way to achieve this is to coat an optimized optical thin films stack on a filter substrate. Each filter requires a specific design using specific appropriate materials. The main characteristics of these filters, that constitute a real technological challenge, are: their relatively large size - their radii of curvature (about 5.6 m) that represent a sagitta of 12,5 mm that increases the uniformity complexity, the large rejection band requirements with transmission lower than 0.01 % out of the band and a transmission of 95 % over the band-pass. This paper proposes to show the problematic and the results obtained at LMA (Laboratoire des Matériaux Avancés-FRANCE) to the purpose of realizing these filters using the IBS (Ion Beam Sputtering) deposition technique. The results obtained with High-Pass/Low-Pass structures will be presented. Experimental results will be shown concerning the R-band filter (552-691 nm). An overview of the work to be done to realize transmittance map over large filters will be given.

Optical coatings are one of the key elements of the VLT’s second generation instrument MUSE. The Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer is developed for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and will be installed in 2013 at the VLT (Very Large Telescope). MUSE is a panoramic integral field spectrograph (1x1arcmin² Field of View) operating in the visible wavelength range (465 nm - 930 nm). The throughput, which strongly depends on the optical coatings, is one of the most important parameters of the MUSE instrument, which aims at observing very faint objects. This article focuses on the different refractions and reflections required by the optical design of MUSE. Between the output of the VLT and the final detectors of MUSE, photons are typically reflected 7 times by mirrors and transmitted 26 times through antireflective coatings. A comparison between metallic and multi-dielectric coatings is presented here in order to explain the best compromise that has been chosen for MUSE purpose. High reflective multi-dielectric coatings of large bandwidth are rather thick and induce significant stress on the substrate which may bend the substrate. This deformation of mirrors is simulated and compared to measurements on MUSE optics. Finally, systematic optical coating tests have been conducted, so as to check the durability under severe conditions such as humidity, temperature change, abrasion. In the end, the choice of high quality optical coatings should allow MUSE to reach a global throughput higher than 40%.

J-PAS (Javalambre-PAU Astrophysical Survey) is a Spanish-Brazilian collaboration to conduct an innovative photometric survey of more than 8000 square degrees of northern sky using a system of 57 filters, 54 narrow-band (FWHM=13.8 nm) filters continuously populating the spectrum between 370 to 920 nm with 10.0 nm steps, plus 3 broad-band filters. Together with the main J-PAS survey, the collaboration is carrying out J-PLUS (the Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey), an all-sky survey using a set of 12 carefully optimized broad- and narrow-band filters that will be used to perform the calibration tasks for the main survey. The J-PAS survey will be carried out using JPCam, a 14-CCD mosaic camera using the new e2v 9.2k-by-9.2k, 10μm pixel detectors, mounted on the JST/T250, a dedicated 2.55-m wide-field telescope at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ) in Teruel, Spain. J-PLUS, on the other hand, will be carried out using a wide field CCD camera (the T80Cam) equipped with a large format STA 1600 CCD (10.5k-by-10.5k, 9μm pixel) and mounted on the JAST/T80, a dedicated 0.83-m wide-field telescope at the OAJ. In both cases, the filters will operate close to, but up-stream from the dewar window in a fast converging optical beam. This optical configuration imposes challenging requirements for the J-PLUS and J-PAS filters, some of them requiring the development of new filter design solutions. This paper describes the main requirements and design strategies for these two sets of filters.

This paper brings hyperspectral technology and compute image together, on the basis of geometrical optics theory and compressed sensing theory, put forward a new computational spectral Imaging technology. That raises two to four times on spatial resolution and double on spectral resolution compared conventional hyperspectral imagers. Owing to have finished compressing when getting the imaging signal, that could resolve the conflict between the mass of data bringing with high resolution and transfers and storage. The paper carries out a project to the new hyperspectral imager.

In the context of the conceptual design study for the European Solar Telescope (EST) we have investigated different metallic mirror coatings in terms of reflectivity, polarization properties and durability. Samples of the following coating types have been studied: bare aluminum, silver with different dielectric layers for protection and UV enhancement, and an aluminum-silver combination. From 2009 to 2011 we have carried out a long-term durability test under realistic observing conditions at the VTT solar telescope of the Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife, Spain), accompanied by repeated reflectivity measurements in the EST spectral working range (0.3 - 20 μm), and by polarization measurements in the visible range. The test results allow us to find the optimum coatings for the different mirrors in the EST beampath and to eventually assess aging effects and re-coating cycles. The results of the polarization measurements are a valuable input for an EST telescope polarization model, helping to meet the stringent requirements on polarimetric accuracy.

A metal mesh filter is appropriate to a band-pass filter for astronomy in the long mid-infrared between 25 and 40 μm, where most of optical materials are opaque. The mesh filter does not require transparent dielectric materials unlike interference filters because the transmission characteristics bare determined by surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) resonances excited on a metal surface with a periodic structure. In this study, we have developed the mesh filters optimized to atmospheric windows at 31.8 and 37.5 μm accessible from the Chajnantor site of 5,640 m altitude. First, mesh filters made of a gold film of 2 μm thickness have been fabricated. Four identical film-type filters are stacked incoherently to suppress leakages at stop-bands. The transmissions of the stacked filters have been measured to be 0.8 at the peaks and below 1 x 10^-3 at the stop-bands at 4 K. The ground-based mid-infrared camera MAX38 has been equipped with the stacked filters and successfully obtained diffraction-limited stellar images at the Chajnantor site. The film-type mesh filter does not have sufficient mechanical strength for a larger aperture and for use in space. We have developed mesh filters with higher strength by applying the membrane technology for x-ray optics. The membrane-type mesh filter is made of SiC and coated with a thin gold layer. The optical performance of the mesh filter is independent of internal materials in principle because the SPP resonances are excited only on the metal surface. The fabricated membrane-type mesh filter has been confirmed to provide comparable optical performance to the film-type mesh filter.

Octadecanethiol self-assembling monolayers have been reported to protect silver against tarnish in typical environments. We have undertaken a study to investigate whether such coatings have potential use for silver-based mirror coatings for astronomy, particularly in instruments where mirror coatings would be protected from dirt and potential mechanical damage. We find that simple treatment of bare silver with octadecanethiol does significantly reduce the rate of tarnish while preserving silver’s excellent reflectivity. We describe the simple process of application, how the coatings are evaluated, and directions for further investigations.

We are developing an integral field unit (IFU) for a near-infrared multi-object imaging spectrograph SWIMS (Simultaneous-color Wide-field Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph). SWIMS is an instrument for the 6.5m telescope of the University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) project on the summit of Co. Chajnantor (altitude of 5,640m) in northern Chile. Most of near infrared integral field spectrographs (IFSs) on 8–10m class telescopes are used with adaptive optics and have fine spatial sampling. Compared with them, SWIMS IFU has higher sensitivity for extended objects because it has coarser spatial sampling optimized for seeing-limit observations. We have investigated the feasible optical design, and found a possible layout whose field of view is about 14 x 10 arcsec² with 0.4 arcsec slice width. All IFU mirror arrays will be made of aluminum alloy to match the thermal expansion with support structures, as they are placed in a cryogenic environment. They will be fabricated monolithically with high precision machining to reduce alignment process. We have carried out a fabrication test of a spherical surface and confirmed that surface roughness and surface figure error are enough low for near-infrared light. As a next step, fabrication of a prototype mirror array with 3 reflective surfaces is planned. In this paper, we will show our project outline, the IFU optical design and the results of prototyping works.

Polarimeters based on electro-optically tunable liquid crystals (LC) represent a new technology in the field of observational astrophysics. LC-based polarimeters are good candidates for replacing mechanically rotating polarimeters in most ground-based and space-based applications. During the 2006 total solar eclipse, we measured the visible-light polarized brightness (pB) of the solar K-corona with a LC-based polarimeter and imager (E-KPol). In this presentation, we describe the results obtained with the E-KPol, and we evaluate its performances in view of using a similar device for the pB imaging of the K-corona from space-based coronagraphs. Specifically, a broad-band LC polarimeter is planned for the METIS (Multi Element Telescope for Imaging and Spectroscopy) coronagraph for the Solar Orbiter mission to be launched in 2017. The METIS science driver of deriving the coronal electron density from pB images requires an accuracy of better than 1% in the measurement of linear polarization. We present the implications of this requirement on the METIS design to minimize the instrumental polarization of the broad-band visible-light (590-650 nm) polarimeter and of the other optics in the METIS visible-light path. Finally, we report preliminary ellipsometric measurements of the optical components of the METIS visible-light path.

Green sensitive photopolymers have been studied to produce volume phase gratings (VPHGs) to be used as dispersing elements in astronomical instrumentations. They have been characterized determining the parameters that affect the diffraction efficiency (thickness, refractive index modulation, exposure, line density, etc.). Different prototypes have been produced varying all the selected parameters. The optical proprieties of the devices were investigated to understand the quality of the gratings. The results were encouraging, therefore, to experience the possibility to produce a VPHG for astronomical applications, low dispersion prototype has been designed, and it will be mounted in the AFOSC camera (Asiago, Italy).

We present a preview of compatibility tests for index-matching fluids with commonly used optical assembly materials. Although we focus on fluid candidates for GMACS, the results of the conducted experiments are applicable to all instruments that use optical index-matching fluids. The experiment presented here aims to identify potentially corrosive matchings of fluids and materials. In the experiment, a material (RTV, polyethylene, delrin, etc.) is submerged in a quartz cuvette of fluid (Cargille liquids, glycerin, etc.). Contamination is observed by using a spectrometer to measure the absorption spectrum at various post-submersion times. The current results have large measurement errors compared to the signal, and no contamination appears to have taken place. We detail the source of these errors and make suggestions for similar future experiments.

The possibility of making Volume Binary Gratings to be used in high dispersion instrumentations (echelle) is considered. The idea is to study volume gratings with a binary refractive index profile and to optimize it in terms of refractive index modulation, duty cycle, grating thickness keeping in mind the possible limitations in the realization step. A full design/optimization of these gratings based on Rigorous Couple Wave Analysis (RCWA) has been carried out providing interesting results in terms of diffraction efficiency. A discussion on the realization possibilities is also provided.

BigBOSS is a Stage IV Dark Energy instrument based on the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and Red Shift Distortions (RSD) techniques using spectroscopic data of 20 million ELG and LRG galaxies at 0.5≤z≤1.6 in addition to several hundred thousand QSOs at 0.5≤z≤3.5. When designing BigBOSS instrumentation, it is imperative to maximize throughput whilst maintaining a resolving power of between R=1500 and 4000 over a wavelength range of 360-980 nm. Volume phase Holographic (VPH) gratings have been identified as a key technology which will enable the efficiency requirement to be met, however it is important to be able to accurately predict their performance. In this paper we quantitatively compare different modelling techniques in order to assess the parameter space over which they are more capable of accurately predicting measured performance. Finally we present baseline parameters for grating designs that are most suitable for the BigBOSS instrument.

An innovative compact - yet high resolution - cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph has been designed, built, and deployed at TSU's 2-meter robotic telescope for initial tests and commissioning. This design is based on a single mode fiber (SMF) and it eliminates mode noise in fiber-fed spectrographs which is important for m/s precision exoplanet Doppler searches. The use of SMFs removes modal variation, makes the design compact and the camera focus slow and stable at the price of lower throughput. This can be improved by using adaptive optics or by placing it in space; the compact design is well suited for such deployment.

A conventional Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) has been modified, without output receiver waveguides, for nonconventional applications such as Astrophotonics and spectroscopy sensing where the input signal can have information over the entire band and a continuum of light/spectrum. The material system chosen for the AWG design is siliconnitride/ SiO₂/Si (Si₃N₄-SiO₂-Si) for its relatively high refractive index, which for a given channel spacing allowing a more compact device than Silicon-on-Silica. Further, CMOS compatibility and the presence of high non-liner optical coefficient would be an added advantage to design and fabricate densely integrated photonic sub-systems, such as calibration source and AWG, for astrophotonics and spectroscopy. The proposed AWG utilizes a flat image plane optimized for minimal aberration. An analytical calculation, based on Gaussian beam approximation, was used to determine the optimal flat plane position where the non-uniformity in 1/e electric field widths is minimal. This plane can be used as the dicing plane to re-image the entire output of the AWG onto a detector array to sample the entire spectrum. Tailored AWG, with flat image-plane, designed to resolve 48 spectral channels with 0.4nm (50GHz) resolution and adjacent channel cross-talk level within a 0.2nm window (ITU-grid) ~ -28dB. Calculated insertion loss non-uniformity is close to 3dB. The foot-print of high index contrast (Δn=23%) IPS is ~ 12x8.5 mm². The modelled mean spectral resolving power, R, at the flat image-plane is ~ 7,600. The design principle could be utilised for devices using other material systems with different parameters.

At the Institute for Astrophysics Goettingen (IAG), we are purchasing a high resolution Fourier Transform Spectrograph (FTS) for astronomical observations and development of calibration standards aiming at high wavelength precision. Astronomical spectrographs that work in the regime of very high resolution (resolving powers λ/δλ≥10⁵) now achieve unprecedented precision and stability. Precise line shifts can be investigated to conclude for an objects radial velocity relative to the observer. As a long-term scientific goal, the evolution of galaxy redshift due to dark energy can be monitored. Also, the detection of lower mass, down to Earth-like planets will become feasible. Here, M-dwarfs are promising objects where an orbiting exo-Earth can cause a wavelength shift large enough to be detected. Emitting mainly in the near infrared (NIR), these objects require novel calibration standards. Current schemes under consideration are gas cathode lamps (e.g. CN, UNe) and a highly stable Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) to act as a cost-efficient alternative to the laser frequency comb (LFC, [1]). In addition to experiments exploring novel wavelength calibration types, light will be fed from our telescopes at IAG. A Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) for solar observations and the 50 cm Cassegrain telescope allow to investigate stellar and spatially resolved light at our facilities.

The IGRINS (Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrometer) is a high resolution wide-band infrared spectrograph developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT). Immersion grating is a key component of IGRINS, which disperses the input ray by using a silicon material with a lithography technology. Optomechanical mount for the immersion grating is important to keep the high spectral resolution and the optical alignment in a cold temperature of 130±0.06K. The optical performance of immersion grating can maintain within the de-center tolerance of ±0.05mm and the tip-tilt tolerance of ±1.5arcmin. The mount mechanism utilizes the flexure and the semikinematic support design to satisfy the requirement and the operation condition. When the IGRINS system is cooled down to a cold temperature, three flexures compensate for the thermal contraction stress due to the different material between the immersion grating and the mounting part (aluminum 6061). They also support the immersion grating by an appropriate preload. Thermal stability is controlled by a copper strap with proper dimensions and a heater. Typically, structural and thermal analysis was performed to confirm the mount mechanism. This mechanism will be also applied to the GMTNIRS (Giant Magellan Telescope Near InfraRed Spectrograph) instrument, which is a first-generation candidate of the GMT telescope.

Adhesives are widely used in optomechanical structures for bonding optical components to their mounts. The main advantage of using adhesives is the excellent strength to weight ratio. Adhesive bonding is seen as a desirable joining technique as it allows for greater flexibility in design. A disadvantage of adhesives however is the limited dimensional stability and loadability. To design stable optical mounts, accurate prediction of stresses and deformation is therefore needed. Adhesives show strong temperature and loading history dependent behavior. Viscoelastic material models are needed for accurate prediction of stresses and strains in bonded joints. However, representative material data for adhesives is difficult to find. In this research, an experimental framework is build up to determine relevant mechanical properties of adhesives for improving stress and deformation prediction. This paper shows the results of the characterization experiments and modeling techniques. Also the implementation of material models in finite element code is briefly discussed. The obtained models are used in the mount design in the EUCLID and TROPOMI programs as described in “Ultra stable isostatic bonded optical mount design for harsh environments, J.A.C.M Pijnenburg et al” (this conference).

The SITELLE Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer system being developed by l'Université Laval at ABB-Bomem will require two identical CCD detector systems. Our requirements for the cryogenic system for these cameras are: cooling to below 190 K, extremely low vibrational input from the cryogenic system (<1 mg RMS from 0-2 kHz), hands-off operation over long periods of time and low original capital outlay and continued operation cost. These constraints drove towards the selection of a Polycold PCC cooled system which exhibits relatively low vibrational noise and can efficiently achieve the required cooling power in our target temperature range. This paper will present work performed to passively mitigate high frequency vibrations imparted by the Polycold PCC cryo-head on the detector cryostat.

This paper discusses the development, realization, and qualification of a positioning actuator concept specifically for cryogenic environments. Originally developed for quantum physics research, the actuator also has many applications in astronomic cryogenic instruments to position optical elements with nanometer level accuracy and stability. Typical applications include the correction of thermally induced position errors of optical components after cooling down from ambient to cryogenic temperatures or sample positioning in microscopes. The actuator is nicknamed the ‘PiezoKnob’ because it is piezo based and it is compatible with the typical manipulator knob often found in standard systems for optical benches, such as linear stages or tip/tilt lens holders. Actuation with high stiffness piezo elements enables the Piezoknob to deliver forces up to 50 Newton which allows relatively stiff guiding mechanisms or large pre-loads. The PiezoKnob has been qualified at 77 Kelvin and was shown to work down to 2 Kelvin. As part of the qualification program, the custom developed driving electronics and set point profile have been fine-tuned, by combing measurements with predictions from a dynamic model, thus maximizing efficiency and minimizing power dissipation. Furthermore, the actuator holds its position without power and thanks to its mechanical layout it is absolutely insensitive to drift of the piezo elements or the driving electronics.

For the on-ground calibration setup of the SAFARI instrument cryogenic mechanisms are being developed at SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, including a filter wheel, XYZ-scanner and a flipmirror mechanism. Due to the extremely low background radiation requirement of the SAFARI instrument, all of these mechanisms will have to perform their work at 4.5 Kelvin and low-dissipative cryogenic actuators are required to drive these mechanisms. In this paper, the performance of stepper motors, piezoelectric actuators and brushless DC-motors as cryogenic actuators are compared. We tested stepper motor mechanical performance and electrical dissipation at 4K. The actuator requirements, test setup and test results are presented. Furthermore, design considerations and early performance tests of the flipmirror mechanism are discussed. This flipmirror features a 102 x 72 mm aluminum mirror that can be rotated 45°. A Phytron stepper motor with reduction gearbox has been chosen to drive the flipmirror. Testing showed that this motor has a dissipation of 49mW at 4K with a torque of 60Nmm at 100rpm. Thermal modeling of the flipmirror mechanism predicts that with proper thermal strapping the peak temperature of the flipmirror after a single action will be within the background level requirements of the SAFARI instrument. Early tests confirm this result. For low-duty cycle operations commercial stepper motors appear suitable as actuators for test equipment in the SAFARI on ground calibration setup.

MATISSE (Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment) will be a mid-infrared spectro-interferometer combining the beams of up to four telescopes of the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO VLTI), providing phase closure and image reconstruction. MATISSE will produce interferometric spectra in the LM and in the N band (3.0 to 13.0 micron) and is as such a successor of MIDI. Beams pass the warm preoptics and in the cold optics all beams recombine on the detector where they create a spectral interference pattern. Instruments with a large wavelength bandwidth like MATISSE usually comprise mechanisms for selection of observation mode, filters, dispersing elements, pinholes or slits. The cryogenic operating environment poses several challenges to these cryogenic mechanisms like differential thermal shrinkage, physical property change of materials and lubrication. For the MATISSE instrument two concepts of selection mechanisms can be distinguished: linear selection mechanisms (sliders) and rotating selection mechanisms (wheels). Both mechanisms provide high accuracy and repeatability. The feature density is high in a limited space envelope. Cryogenic electric motors are used as the actuator for all these mechanisms. This paper describes the design and realization of these linear and rotating selection mechanisms.

Matisse is a four channel mid-infrared spectro-interferometric instrument for ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A battery of 8 cryogenic shutters selects the active telescopes at the entrance of the cold optics subsystem. For thermal stability of the system, the shutter uses a minimum amount of power for switching. On top of that the shutter must block incoming beams within 30 milliseconds for detector remanence calibration. A fast shutter was designed, meeting these requirements at both ambient temperature and in a 38 K vacuum cryogenic environment. This paper describes the design of this fast shutter and discusses the test results.

We present a conceptual design for a cryogenic optical mechanism for the SAFARI instrument. SAFARI is a long wavelength (34-210 micron) Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) to fly as an ESA instrument on the JAXA SPICA mission projected to launch in 2021. SPICA is a large 3m class space telescope which will have an operating temperature of less than 7K. The SAFARI shutter is a single point of failure flight mechanism designed to operate in space at a temperature of 4K which meets redundancy and reliability requirements of this challenging mission. The conceptual design is part of a phase A study led by ETH Institute for Astronomy and conducted by RUAG Space AG.

HARMONI is an integral field spectrograph working at visible and near-infrared wavelengths, over a range of spatial scales from ground layer corrected to fully diffraction-limited. The instrument has been chosen to be part of the first-light complement at the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). This paper describes the engineering technology development being undertaken at the UKATC and Oxford to support E-ELT HARMONI instrument in its pre-phase-B stage. This includes the description of technology demonstrators for a tracking optical de-rotator to be located within the instrument vacuum vessel, a cryogenic shutter and a compact thermally compensating lens mount system. In addition the material testing facilities available at the UKATC are described which will enable the measurement of material and bolted joint thermal conductivities to 4K and friction/wear properties of material combinations to 20K. This work is undertaken to improve the instrument performance and reduce technical, cost and schedule risk.

FRIDA (inFRared Imager and Dissector for the Adaptive optics system of the Gran Telescopio Canarias) has been designed as a cryogenic and diffraction limited instrument that will offer broad and narrow band imaging and integral field spectroscopy (IFS). Both, the imaging mode and IFS observing modes will use the same Teledyne 2Kx2K detector. This instrument will be installed at Nasmyth B station, behind the GTC Adaptive Optics system. FRIDA will provide the IFS mode using a 30 slices Integral Field Unit (IFU). This IFU design is based on University of Florida FISICA where the mirror block arrays are diamond turned on monolithic metal blocks. FRIDA IFU is conformed mainly by 3 mirror blocks with 30 spherical mirrors each. It also has a Schwarzschild relay based on two off axis spherical mirrors and an afocal system of two parabolic off axis mirrors. Including two insertion mirrors the IFU holds 96 metal mirrors. Each block or individual mirror is attached on its own mechanical mounting. In order to study beam interferences with mechanical parts, ghosts and scattered light, an iterative optical-mechanical modeling was developed. In this work this iterative modeling is described including pictures showing actual ray tracing on the opto-mechanical components.

The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI) of Durham University (UK) has developed a conceptual design for the Integral Field Unit (IFU) for EAGLE based on diamond-machined monolithic multi-faceted metal-mirror arrays as an alternative to the glass IFU which is currently baselined. The CfAI has built up substantial expertise with the design, manufacture, integration, alignment and acceptance testing of such systems, through the successful development of IFUs for the Gemini Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (GNIRS) and JWST NIRSpec and 24 IFUs for ESO’s K-band Multi-Object Spectrometer (KMOS). The unprecedented performance of the KMOS IFUs (Strehl < 0.8 across the field, throughput rising from 86% at a wavelength of 1 micron to 93% at 2.5 micron) demonstrates that the current state-of-the-art technology is sufficiently mature to meet the demanding requirements for EAGLE. In addition, the use of monolithic multi-faceted metal mirror arrays will greatly simplify the manufacture, integration and alignment of such systems thus potentially reducing technical and programmatic risks and cost. Through the timely completion of the KMOS IFUs, which required the fabrication of an unprecedented 1152 optical surfaces, the CfAI have demonstrated that they have the capacity to produce the required volume within reasonable schedule constraints. All the facilities (design, fabrication e.g. diamond machining, metrology, integration and test) required for the successful realisation of such systems are available in-house, thus minimising programmatic risks. This paper presents the opto-mechanical design and predicted performance (based on the actual measured performance of the KMOS IFUs) of the proposed metal IFU.

In development of large-scale astronomical telescopes, some promising new technology and method such as honeycomb structure mirrors and silicon carbide mirrors are applied for primary mirrors. Especially in space telescopes, the mirror lightweight design is becoming the key technology and honeycomb structure mirrors are normally required more and more to reduce the cost and increase the feasibility of the telescopes system. In this paper, a parameter FEA model of a two meters honeycomb structure mirror has been built, by using the engineering analysis software ANSYS. Through this model, the structural analysis, thermal deformation analysis and the simulation active correction of low-order frequency aberration by the finite element method have been presented.

The CARMENES project, which is currently at FDR stage, is a last-generation exoplanet hunter instrument to be installed in the Calar Alto Observatory by 2014. It is split into two different spectrographs: one works within the visual range while the other does it in the NIR range. Both channels need to be extremely stable in terms of mechanical and thermal behavior. Nevertheless, due to the operation temperature of the NIR spectrograph, the thermal stability requirement (±0.07 K in 24 hours; ±0.01 K (goal)) becomes actually a major challenge. The solution here proposed consists of a system that actively cools a shield enveloping the optical bench. Thus, the instability produced on the shield temperature is further damped on the optical bench due to the high mass of the latter, as well as the high thermal decoupling between both components, the main heat exchange being produced by radiation. This system -which is being developed with the active collaboration and advice of ESO (Jean-Louis Lizon)- is composed by a previous unit which produces a stable flow of nitrogen gas. The flow so produced goes into the in-vacuum circuitry of the NIR spectrograph and removes the radiative heat load incoming to the radiation shield by means of a group of properly dimensioned heat exchangers. The present paper describes and summarizes the cooling system designed for CARMENES NIR as well as the analyses implemented.

In 2009, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope converted the dewar for the ESPaDOnS spectrograph from using liquid nitrogen cooling to using a Polycold^® closed-cycle cooler. It was found that the higher temperature of the closed-cycle cooler degraded the efficiency of the carbon getter for maintaining the vacuum to the point that vacuum could not be maintained long-term without the pumping of a cold-cathode gauge. This paper will detail this vacuum issue along with some experiments done to show the pumping rates of the carbon getter and cold-cathode vacuum gauges, and describe a light-baffle design for suppressing light from the gauge.

Different grades of silicon carbide (SiC) became an established material for structures as well as optical mirrors in space-borne applications. But the manufacturing still causes high efforts and restrains an extension of application in further fields. The research project MirrorFab aims for a qualification of an optimized process chain for manufacturing mirrors made of Cesic^®. Cesic^® consists of a matrix of SiC reinforced with chopped carbon fibers. There is a space qualified Cesic^® manufacturing process and an established network for the supply chain. The project addresses the required gain in efficiency and flexibility in the manufacturing capabilities. The consortium covers the major parts of the process chain. It aims for increasing the performance of each manufacturing technology. Additionally, the consideration of the complete process chain enables a holistic optimization approach. This paper deals particularly with the process optimization of the grinding step after infiltration. The benefit of the use of an ultra precision grinding machine for mirrors in the range of 200 mm is evaluated. This paper presents the results of a systematical study on the influence of the grit size, the type of bond as well the major machining parameters on the surface roughness and the grinding forces, when machining the material Cesic^®. A major finding is, that the use of ultra fine grinding wheels does not result in a superior surface quality compared to the use of a D46 grinding wheel with resinoid bond.

We have designed an active stressed lap and its control mode is that an computer sends control orders to the control system of the active stress lap, under windows operating system. The control mode has a shortage, which is a limit exists when we use the lap to complete an aspheric surface deformation task with a fast focal ratio, because windows system is not real-time. Therefore, we have designed a real-time deformation control system for the active stressed lap. The paper makes an introduction to the structure of the deformation control system of the active stressed lap. Secondly, gives a detailed presentation on the design of the test system from software and hardware two aspects .Finally, the paper makes a dynamic response test on the deformation control system of stressed lap, a stability test on the control system and an overall performance test.

In the preceding part I of this paper stressed mirror polishing was stated as one of the processes assumed for the polishing of non-axisymmetric mirror blanks like those for the two ELT projects (the ESO E-ELT and the TMT). For this process it is important to have a precise knowledge of the elastic behavior of the glass ceramic mirror substrate materials. In reality glasses and glass ceramics do not react instantaneously to stresses at room temperature. This effect is called "delayed elasticity". It was shown that the delayed elasticity effect of ZERODUR^® is small in size (less than approximately 1% of the applied deformation) and fully reversible in time. A mathematical model on the relaxation of shear modulus and bulk modulus of ZERODUR^® has been introduced to predict the delayed elasticity at room temperature and different load cases. This second paper is focusing on an updated model approach with the target to improve the model prediction accuracy. The model results will be compared to measurements of the effect on a 1.5 m E-ELT mirror blank at L-3 Communications, Tinsley.

As previously reported (at the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation conference of 2010 in San Diego¹), the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) utilizes a three-mirror design in which the primary (M1) and tertiary (M3) mirrors are two concentric aspheric surfaces on one monolithic substrate. The substrate material is Ohara E6 borosilicate glass, in a honeycomb sandwich configuration, currently in production at The University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab. We will provide an update to the status of the mirrors and metrology systems, which have advanced from concepts to hardware in the past two years. In addition to the normal requirements for smooth surfaces of the appropriate prescriptions, the alignment of the two surfaces must be accurately measured and controlled in the production lab, reducing the degrees of freedom needed to be controlled in the telescope. The surface specification is described as a structure function, related to seeing in excellent conditions. Both the pointing and centration of the two optical axes are important parameters, in addition to the axial spacing of the two vertices. This paper details the manufacturing process and metrology systems for each surface, including the alignment of the two surfaces. M1 is a hyperboloid and can utilize a standard Offner null corrector, whereas M3 is an oblate ellipsoid, so it has positive spherical aberration. The null corrector is a phase-etched computer-generated hologram (CGH) between the mirror surface and the center-of-curvature. Laser trackers are relied upon to measure the alignment and spacing as well as rough-surface metrology during looseabrasive grinding.

Basing on the contract with firm AMOS LZOS, JSC has accomplished the manufacturing works of the Primary and Secondary Mirrors of Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) for Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES). The Primary mirror specifications is as follows: diameter 3700 mm, vertex radius 14639 mm (F/1.96), conical constant -1.03296, asphericity 111 microns. The Secondary mirror specifications is as follows: diameter 980 mm, vertex radius 4675 mm (F/1.78), conical constant -2.79561, asphericity 47 microns. The results of works under this project are presented in this paper.

This paper presents different testing methods of convex secondary mirrors including stages of grinding and polishing of epy optical parts. Testing method by spherometer in longitudinal and linear directions, testing methods by overlapping of wavefronts in horizontal and vertical layouts are described. Practicable testing schematic of a convex hyperboloid with diameter up to 4m is also presented.

There is a described computer - controlled methods of treatment of large optics with testing of ground surfaces by a set of spherometers and IR-interferometers, testing of lens correctors and CGH correctors, measuring of Radius by a laser tracker on examples of astronomical mirrors production under projects VST, TNT, VISTA, etc. There is a graph describing a degree of complexity of fabricated optics for various telescopes all over the world and there is data about the astronomical mirrors produced in LZOS for different projects.

Optical and opto-mechanical components in astronomical instruments are amongst the most expensive and delicate single parts. Lenses made of special glasses or crystals are sometimes difficult to obtain (if at all), especially with larger diameters and are figured and polished involving time-consuming and even risky procedures. At infrared wavelengths (< 5μm), when the instrument is cooled to temperatures even below that of liquid nitrogen, mechanical stress is induced between e.g. a glass lens and its metal mounting due to different heat expansion coefficients of the materials involved. This can considerably degrade the performance of the whole instrument. At infrared wavelengths the optical specifications considering surface roughness and form error are less tight than in the optical due to the longer wavelengths involved. Hence metal mirrors with a surface roughness and a form error of around 50 nm (RMS) may generally be favoured due to lower production costs then lenses. Goal of the project described here is to manufacture plane, spherical or aspherical aluminum mirrors, which are not hampered in the ways described above, in a cost effective procedure with optical specifications (surface roughness and form error) of less than 100 nm (RMS) by means of direct diamond milling.

ASSIST is the testbed for the ESO Adaptive Optics Facility. The main objective of ASSIST is the characterization of the 1.2 meter deformable mirror which will replace the existing secondary of one of the 8 meter VLT telescopes. A large concave 1.65 meter diameter aspherical primary mirror combined with a 140 mm diameter convex aspherical secondary forms the main optical system of ASSIST. Two additional optical units provide the light sources and the wave front analyzing optics. Without having the possibility for checking the entire optical system as a whole, each individual mirror had to be manufactured and tested using reliable techniques. The secondary mirror for ASSIST (AM2) is made of an optically transparent material (BK7) with a specific and accurate backside radius in order to achieve a null test in transmission. Furthermore, not only the overall RMS surface error of AM2 is important, but due to the fact that it will be used in a setup that measures specific spatial frequencies, also the spatial frequencies of the surface error of AM2 is important. The aspherical surface is tested in double pass using an optical flat and an interferometer with a transmission sphere. Manufacturing of this asphere is mainly done by hand at the optical lab of NOVA-ASTRON. The final accuracy of the reflecting surface is within the required 50 nm RMS with a surface roughness of less than 2 nm RMS. This paper reports in more detail on manufacturing and testing of the a-spherical convex mirror.

The test method of Large-diameter convex secondary mirror in development process is the key to making large telescope technology. Classical means HINDLE to test using of non - aberration points needs a spherical reflecting mirror which larger than the secondary mirror several times. This new Hindle test method based on stitching technology can significantly reduce their standard mirror's size, drop the difficulty of processing and cut down the costs. In This paper, the Hindle testing basic principles which base on stitching technology is introduced firstly, then principle of stitching and least square method. Following the parameters of inside and outside standard mirrors are derived. Then translation and rotation transformation algorithm of different sub-aperture interferometer array data is given. Finally the preliminary results of the radial stitching experiments are given. The results showed that the relative error is RMS = 6.1%, PV = 5.11%. With improving and perfection, this method can be used in the E-ELT, CFGT convex secondary mirror telescope test.

Previously we established that the combination of new machining parameters for openbacked monolithic lightweighted ZERODUR® mirror substrates, coupled with new methods for optical finishing of aggressively lightweighted mirrors, have relieved classical mirror design constraints imposed upon 1.2m diameter lightweight mirrors. We demonstrate that openback mirror substrates now offer comparable mass, Eigenfrequency and substructure print-through performance to the sandwich-mirror architecture, but with considerably less manufacturing effort than for sandwich mirrors. Here we extend the analyses of the first paper from 1.2m diameter down to 0.6m in diameter and up to 2.4m diameter and 4m diameter mirrors.

We have been developing high-throughput optical elements with the moth-eye structures for mid-infrared optical systems. The moth-eye structures are optimized for the wavelength of 25-45μm. It consists of cones with a height of 15-20μm arranged at an interval of 5μm. They are formed on silicon substrate by electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching. As a verification of the usefulness of moth-eye, a double-sided moth-eye silicon plane was fabricated. It shows a transmittance increase of 60% compared with the unprocessed silicon plane. As the first trial of the moth-eye optical element, two silicon lenses with single-sided moth-eye were fabricated. One is a plane-convex lens with the moth-eye on the convex surface. The size of the moth-eye formed region is 30 mm x 30 mm. Its focal length is 186 mm. The other one is a biconvex lens with moth-eye formed region of Φ 33 mm and a focal length of 94 mm. Uniform moth-eye pattern was fabricated especially for the second lens sample. Imaging test with the first sample showed that neither image degradation nor focal length variation was induced by the moth-eye fabrication. As a step to grism with moth-eye, a moth-eye grating sample was fabricated. The grating pattern (Grating constant: 124.9μm, Blaze angle: 4 deg) was successfully fabricated with anisotropic etching. Moth-eye patterns were fabricated on the grating surface. Although the resulted moth-eye was successfully fabricated in the most regions, some non-uniformity was found. It can be attributed to unevenness of resist coating, and improvement of coating method is needed.

NICER will use full shell aluminum foil X-ray mirrors, similar to those that are currently being developed for the optics to be used for the XACT sounding rocket mission. Similar X-ray optics have been produced at Goddard Space Flight Center since the late 1970's. The mirror geometry used in the past and on some present missions consists of concentric quadrant shell mirrors with a conical approximation to the Wolter 1 geometry. For XACT, we are developing the next generation of these optics. Two innovations introduced in the mirrors are complete shells with a curve is in the reflectors' profile to produce a sharper focus than a conical approximation. X-ray imagers, such as those of Suzaku, ASCA, GEMS, and Astro-H require two reflections. Since XACT and NICER are using the optics as X-ray concentrators rather than full imaging optics, only one set of reflections is necessary. The largest shell in the NICER concentrator is 10cm diameter. Small diameter optics benefit from the rigidity of the full shell design. Also, the simplified support hardware reduced mass, which increases the effective area per unit mass. With 56 optics on NICER, each consisting of 24 full shell mirrors, an effective production process is needed for efficient manufacture of these mirrors. This production process is based on heritage techniques but modified for these new mirrors. This paper presents the production process of the innovative full shell optics and also results of optical and X-ray tests of the integrated optics.

Freeform optics offer additional degrees of freedom that can lead to a simplification of instrument optical designs with compact solutions. In this context, we propose a new mathematical description of freeform surfaces. This new mathematical formalism, based on the "eigen-modes" of Bernstein polynomials was developed for off-axis highly aspherical surfaces modelling. It allows to take into account different kinds of deformations of the optical surface with local influence capabilities. We present the mathematical formalism developed and then we focus on the optical analysis of an innovative instrument design. The advantages provided by this new modelling are examined.

A new concept of using focus-diverse point spread functions (PSF) for modal wavefront sensing (WFS) is explored. This concept is based on relatively straightforward image moment analysis of measured PSFs, which differentiates it from other focal-plane WFS techniques. The presented geometric analysis shows that the image moments are nonlinear functions of wave aberration coefficients but notes that focus diversity essentially decouples the coefficients of interest from others, resulting in a set of linear equations whose solution corresponds to modal coefficient estimates. The presented simulations suggest the potential of this method in in-situ full field image quality assessment and deterministic alignment control of wide field imaging systems.

Most of the sky is black: picking off the interesting bits is the challenge. By placing pick-off mirrors in the focal plane of an instrument, it is possible to select light from only the desired sub-fields. The Micro Autonomous Positioning System (MAPS) is a method for maneuvering pick-off mirrors into position by giving each mirror its own set of wheels. This paper details the metrology algorithms that are being developed to provide real-time feedback of the robots’ positions. This will be achieved through imaging high-resolution targets on the robots and analysing the power floor on which they move. Early tests show that the imaging system is capable of resolving linear motions of lμm and rotation of <1mrad, for an operating area of 25 x 20 cm.

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a facility instrument under construction for the 8-m Gemini South telescope. This paper describes the methods used for optical alignment of the adaptive optics (AO) bench. The optical alignment of the off-axis paraboloid mirrors was done using a pre-alignment method utilizing a HeNe laser and alignment telescopes followed by a fine-tuning using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and a shear plate. A FARO arm measuring system was used to place the fiducials for the alignment. Using these methods the AO bench was aligned to 13nm RMS of wavefront error.

The 4DAD, Four Dimensions Alignment Device was developed in the frame of the project 4LGSF (4 Laser Guide Star Facility) for the AOF (Adaptive Optics Facility) on the ESO VLT (Very Large Telescope). It is used to accurately align with respect to kinematic interfaces and mirror alignment targets, a 20 W-class laser source in lateral and angular directions. 4DAD is of size 25x25x15cm and is based on a commercial CCD beam profiler. The incoming beam is highly attenuated at 589 nm and split in two parts through a set of beam conditioning optics. One beam is directed onto the detector revealing lateral movements whereas the other part is refocused to reflect angular changes in the incoming beam. Both lateral and angular beam positions are simultaneously recorded as pixel coordinates on the single CCD. The distinctive feature of 4DAD is its metrology, i.e. the pixel reference coordinates are recorded through the cross projection from a conventional sighting telescope. The device is capable of being used with a low-power white light sighting telescope (alignment reference) as well as with a high power laser beam (to be aligned) without any optical configuration change. Mounted on a reference frame, it can align all 4LGSF laser units beams, giving them equal optical interface and interchangeability. The sighting telescope is the main alignment equipment for the 4LGSF, thus all sub-systems, including 4DAD are aligned, merged, using a simple, single, practical and well-known alignment instrument. The alignment strategy, the design, and results of 4DAD are presented.

Millimeter and sub-millimeter wave observations, however, which largely depend on the instrumentation techniques, provide vital experimental verifications for the theoretical studies of stars formation. To obtain the stronger and more precise radio spectrum signals, high precision reflector panels that are demanded in great amount especially for the large-aperture antenna and antenna-array. Many years, experts have put emphasis on the precise forming of reflector panels. This paper presents the high-precision panels with a sandwich-type construction of one skin-plate and one aluminum backup structural combined with structural adhesive, with high precision modules as the fundamental condition. The skin-plate fit the module well due to its flexible. The structural adhesive, with good flow-ability, automatically compensate the deviations between the skin-plate and the backup structural. In the end, individually shaped sandwich-like panels assemble up the high surface-accuracy reflectors. The internal stress analysis of skin-plate and structural adhesive are of utmost importance. Therefore, several kinds of skin-plate and structural adhesive in different material properties are listed and simulated with finite element method (ANSYS). Based on the simulation results, processing parameters to panel fabrication are determined more efficient and accurate.

The direct drive motor of large aperture telescope, integrated with the telescope mechanic structure, has characteristics of high load torque and large moment of inertia. The control method of drive system should be specially designed for the heavy load. This article aims to list the key issues of engineering technology applied to large aperture telescope. Drive control architecture and method, as well as design requirements of segmented direct drive motor on large astronomic telescope, are discussed in this article.

Direct drive technology is the key to solute future 30-m and larger telescope motion system to guarantee a very high tracking accuracy, in spite of unbalanced and sudden loads such as wind gusts and in spite of a structure that, because of its size, can not be infinitely stiff. However, this requires the design and realization of unusually large torque motor that the torque slew rate must be extremely steep too. A conventional torque motor design appears inadequate. This paper explores one redundant unit permanent magnet synchronous motor and its simulation bed for 30-m class telescope. Because its drive system is one high integrated electromechanical system, one complexly electromechanical design method is adopted to improve the efficiency, reliability and quality of the system during the design and manufacture circle. This paper discusses the design and control of the precise tracking simulation bed in detail.

We investigate the potential of phase-diversity (PD) and Gerchberg-Saxton (GS) algorithms in the calibration of active instruments. A set of images is recorded with the focal-plane scientific camera, each image having a known and unique defocus. The phase-retrieval algorithms are used, with those images, to estimate the non-common path aberration that needs to be compensated by correct alignment of the instrument. We demonstrate by numerical simulations that such algorithms, in particular GS, are sufficient detection methods to fully correct wavefronts with an rms error at least up to 6 rad — but this requires several iterative correction stages.

Giant telescopes with extremely large aperture widely adopt segmented mirror active optics technology, so active adjustment mechanism of displacement is one of the critical techniques. A novel 6-DOF mechanism featuring structural compactness in size and partial decoupling in degrees has been proposed as a potential supporting mechanism for sub-mirrors. It is of important significance to carry out profound study on the control strategy for large scale use of the 6-DOF adjustment mechanism in a highly segmented giant telescope. This paper presents first the control system design for a prototype of the 6-DOF mechanism and further the control strategy modeling for the future large-scale application of the mechanism in giant telescopes. The control system implemented for the prototype mechanism has been successfully tested by photogrammetry at lab. It provides closed-loop control and real-time measurement of all motors of one 6-DOF mechanism and is proved to be a system of high precision and efficiency. Afterwards, we explore and extend the control design of the novel 6-DOF mechanism to large-scale use in all sub-mirrors in a giant telescope. The principle, constitution, control algorithm and realization are covered and commented. The study and experiment carried out in this paper are also informative for the control of parallel manipulators in other industries.

The increasing requirement on the performance of optical instruments leads to more complex optical systems including active optical components. The role of these components is to correct for environmental influences on the instrument and reduce manufacturing and alignment residuals. We describe a method that can be used to design and operate instruments with active components that are not necessarily located in the pupil. After the optical system is designed, the next step is to analyse the available degrees of freedom (DOF), select the best set and include them in the active component. By performing singular value decomposition (SVD) and regularization of the sensitivity matrix, the most efficient DOF for the active component can be calculated. In operation of the instrument, the wavefront at the pupil plane is reconstructed from phase diversity (PD); a metrology having minimal impact on instrument design. Information from SVD, forward and reverse optimization are used to model the process, explore the parameter space and acquire knowledge on convergence. The results are presented for a specific problem.

A fast chopping secondary mirror is the critical functioning assembly in an astronomical telescope for infrared observation. Normally, a chopping mirror is driven by precision high-load and high-stiffness linear actuators which are expected to be lightweight, compact and further cost-effective. The stroke of the actuator is typically required to up to several hundred microns with typical load capacity up to several hundred Newtons. We developed a novel piezo-based prototype linear actuator with a two-stage rhombic flexure amplifier. In this paper, first we present the detail design scheme of the actuator by analytical calculations with comprehensive Finite Element Analysis (FEA) verification. Afterwards, we also present the procedures and results of tests of linearity, load capacity, eigenfrequency, stability and repeatability. The selected piezoelectric drive unit is a block of 35x10x10 mm³ with output force up to 4000 N. The two-stage displacement amplifier is simply integrated by two identical singular rhombic flexures orthogonally mounted together. Each stage, one rhombic flexure with a longer axis of 76 mm long, is designed with an ideal amplification ratio of 3, which leads to a final theoretical compound amplification ration of 9. In order to realize the basic triangular-amplification principle in a rhombic flexure, we introduced flexure joints at all the eight ends of its four edge bars. The singular rhombic flexures can be efficiently manufactured by electrical discharge wire-cutting process at a time in batch by being overlapped in layers. Afterwards we carried out related measurements to test its performance.

In order to correct the atmospheric disturbance around the main mirror and the error caused by wind, the calibration frequency must reach 10 Hz in the active optics system. Therefore, the force actuator must have good dynamic response and high-precision positioning. A new scheme of force actuator, in which linear voice coil motor is used as the driver and linear grating is used as the displacement sensor, is proposed in this paper. With using the deadbeat control theory, the force actuator could achieve fast response, no steady-state error, small overshoot, rapid recovery, and high-resolution which cannot be deeply improved by the traditional PID control method. Finally, the calibration frequency can reach 20 Hz which has met system design requirements. Simulation and experiment demonstrates that this kind of control method can effectively improve the performance of the force actuator.

A dual coronagraph based on the Adaptive Mask concept is presented in this paper. ALyot coronagraph with a variable diameter occulting disk anda nulling stellar coronagraph based on the Adaptive Phase Mask concept using polarization interferometry are presented in this work. Observations on sky and numerical simulations show the usefulness of the proposed method to optimize the nulling efficiency of the coronagraphs. In the case of the phase mask, the active control system will correct for the detrimental effects of image instabilities on the destructive interference (low-order aberrations such as tip-tilt and focus). The phase mask adaptability both in size, phase and amplitude also compensate for manufacturing errors of the mask itself, and potentially for chromatic effects. Liquid-crystal properties are used to provide variable transmission of an annulus around the phase mask, but also to achieve the achromatic π phase shift in the core of the PSF by rotating the polarization by 180°.A compressed mercury (Hg) drop is used as an occulting disk for the Lyot mask, its size control offers an adaptation to the seeing conditions and provides an optimization of the Tip-tilt correction.

HAWC (High Altitude Water Cherenkov) is a high energy Gamma ray detector-telescope under construction at an altitude of 4100 m in the Sierra Negra volcano, Mexico. HAWC is a international Mexico/USA collaboration and it will consist of a array of 300 tanks filled water and three photomultipliers tubes near the bottom of each tank. This work discuss some analog electronics solutions and the use of high speed differential amplifiers for tracking the high frequency pulses from the photomultiplier tubes. It also looks towards the update of the present analog front end board electronics of the water detector tanks.

Microchannel Plates (MCP) detectors are frequently used in space instrumentation for detecting a wide range of radiation and particles. In particular, the capability to detect non-thermal low energy neutral species is crucial for the sensor ELENA (Emitted Low-Energy Neutral Atoms), part of the package SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) on board the BepiColombo mission of ESA to Mercury to be launched in 2015. ELENA is a Time of Flight (TOF) sensor, based on a novel concept using an ultra-sonic oscillating shutter (Start section), which is operated at frequencies up to 50 kHz; a MCP detector is used as a Stop detector. The scientific objective of ELENA is to detect energetic neutral atoms in the range 10 eV – 5 keV, within 76° FOV, perpendicular to the S/C orbital plane. ELENA will monitor the emission of neutral atoms from the whole surface of Mercury thanks to the spacecraft motion. The major scientific objectives are the interaction between the plasma environment and the planet’s surface, the global particle loss-rate and the remote sensing of the surface properties. In particular, surface release processes are investigated by identifying particles released from the surface, via solar wind-induced ion sputtering (< 1eV – < 100 eV) as well as Hydrogen back-scattered at hundreds eV. MCP absolute detection efficiency for very low energy neutral atoms (E < 30 eV) is a crucial point for this investigation. At the MEFISTO facility of the Physical Institute of the University of Bern (CH), measurements on three different types of MCP (with and without coating) have been performed providing the detection efficiencies in the energy range 10eV – 1keV. Outcomes from such measurements are discussed here.

Control network of active surface using Precise Time Protocol operates the actuators. PTP network structure, principle of synchronization and model of clock servo are elaborated. The protocol stack with PTP is running on Actuator controller. This scheme is used to real-time control in active surface of radio telescope.

With a diameter of 15m the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is the largest astronomical telescope in the world designed specifically to operate in the submillimeter wavelength region of the spectrum. It is situated close to the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at an altitude of 4092m. Its primary reflector currently consists of a steel geodesic supporting structure and pressed aluminium panels on a passive mount. The major issues of the present reflector are its thermal stability and its panels deterioration. A preliminary design study for the replacement of the JCMT antenna dish is here presented. The requested shape error for the new reflector is <20μm RMS. The proposed solution is based on a semi-monocoque backing structure made of CFRP and on high precision electroformed panels. The choice of CFRP for the backing structure allows indeed to improve the antenna performance in terms of both stiffness and thermal stability, so that the required surface accuracy of the primary can be achieved even by adopting a passive panels system. Moreover thanks to CFRP, a considerable weight reduction of the elevation structure can be attained. The performance of the proposed solution for the JCMT antenna has been investigated through FE analyses and the assessed deformation of the structure under different loading cases has been taken into account for subsequent error budgeting. Results show that the proposed solution is in line with the requested performance. With this new backing structure, the JCMT would have the largest CFRP reflector ever built.

The geometric accuracy of the surface shape of large antenna is an important indicator of antenna’s quality. Currently, high-precision measurement of large antenna surface shape can be performed in two ways: photogrammetry and laser tracker. Photogrammetry is a rapid method, but its accuracy is not enough good. Laser tracker can achieve high precision, but it is very inconvenient to move the reflector (target mirror) on the surface of the antenna by hand during the measurement. So, a smart car is designed to carry the reflector in this paper. The car, controlled by wireless, has a small weight and a strong ability for climbing, and there is a holding bracket gripping the reflector and controlling reflector rise up and drop down on the car. During the measurement of laser tracker, the laser beam between laser tracker and the reflector must not be interrupted, so two high-precision three-dimensional miniature electronic compasses, which can real-time monitor the relative angle between the holding bracket and the laser tracker’s head, are both equipped on the car and the head of laser tracker to achieve automatic alignment between reflector and laser beam. With the aid of the smart car, the measurement of laser tracker has the advantages of high precision and rapidity.

A separate building of solar power plants may take hundreds of millions of euros. The dish-stirling system is one of the concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) technologies. Considering the dish-stirling system is structurally similar to a radio telescope, with its diameter similar to the antenna that is used in the SKA, It is assumed that a radio telescope and the dish-stirling system could be functionally integrated in the design for time-based sharing, thus to reduce the SKA and the dish-stirling system in the repeated construction costs on the reflecting surface, the two-axis tracking mechanism, the civil engineering, and the roads, etc. Based on the above idea on the functional integration of devices, whilst taking account on the functional requirements of the SKA and the dish-stirling system, the Principle design of functional integration is conducted. In addition, the control system and multi-functional reflector regarding its processing and coating technology is covered.

For the LINC-NIRVANA (LN) project, MPIA requested an appropriate motorized mount for initial alignment of two dichroic beam splitters in the instrument. These dichroic mirrors which reflect the visible light and transmit the NIR are located close to the pupil plane are therefore very sensitive to tilt and flexure errors which could be introduced to the wave-front sensor. Considering this the following high level specifications were requested in a very tight operating envelope: range of adjustment tip and tilt ±2° around the major axis of the elliptical mirror, resolution of adjustment <0.5 arcsec , position repeatability <1 arcsec, static position stability within an elevation 0° up to 90° <20 arc seconds and a minimum eigenfrequency <110Hz.