Laboratory Tests of the Spartan IR Camera, CSCE Seminar, 25 January 2006, Ed Loh

Abstract

The Spartan IR Camera, MSU’s contribution to the SOAR telescope, will provide high-spatial resolution imaging in the 1000-2500-nm spectral range. The primary requirements are (1) diffraction-limited imaging, (2) a wide, 5-arcmin field of view, and (3) maintaining boresight as the instrument turns as the telescope tracks a star. To meet these requirements, we designed an all-reflective instrument with a high degree of symmetry and well-balanced optics. Design and fabrication finished, the instrument is being tested in the laboratory. The flexure as the instrument turns is quite small: the uncorrectable flexure is 0.15 of the diffraction width. The instrument will preserve the image quality of the tip-tilt corrected telescope: the instrument is diffraction-limited even at 630 nm. We are currently performing the first test of the instrument at 77K.