With the imminent launch of the JWST, the field of thermal-infrared (TIR) astronomy will enjoy a revolution. It is easy to imagine that all areas of infrared (IR) astronomy will be greatly advanced, but perhaps impossible to conceive of the new vistas that will be opened. To allow both follow-up JWST observations and a continuance of work started on the ground-based 8m’s, we continue to plan the science cases and instrument design for a TIR imager and spectrometer for early operation on the TMT. We present the current status of our science cases and the instrumentation plans, harnessing expertise across the TMT partnership. This instrument will be proposed by the MICHI team as a second-generation instrument in any upcoming calls for proposals.
We have carried out a trial production of the large-format (n=11) image slicer unit for a possible future mid-infrared instrument on the TMT aiming to verify its technical feasibility. The key elements in our trial production are the monolithic large-format slice mirrors and the monolithic large-format pupil mirrors. The results of our trial production of those key elements based on the ultra high-precision cutting techniques and the assembly of the large-format image slicer unit are presented in this paper.
We have carried out the trial production of small format (n=5) image slicer aiming to obtain the technical verification of the Integral Field Unit (IFU) that can be equipped to the next generation infrared instruments such as TMT/MICHI and SPICA/SMI. Our goal is to achieve stable pseudo slit image with high efficiency. Here we report the results of the assembly of the image slicer unit and the non-cryogenic evaluation system of the pseudo slit image quality in the infrared.
A mid-infrared (MIR) imager and spectrometer is being investigated for possible construction in the early operation of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). Combined with the MIR adaptive optics (AO) system (MIRAO), the instrument will afford ~15 times higher sensitivity and ~4 times better spatial resolution (0.07”) at 10μm compared to 8m-class telescopes. Additionally, through exploiting the large collection area of the TMT, the high-dispersion spectroscopy mode will be unrivaled by other ground- and space-based facilities. These combined capabilities offer the possibility for breakthrough science, as well as ‘workhorse’ observing modes of imaging and low/moderate spectral resolution. In this paper we summarize the primary science drivers that are guiding the instrument design.
We present the current status of the development of the SPICA Coronagraph Instrument (SCI). SPICA is a next-generation
3-meter class infrared telescope, which will be launched in 2022. SCI is high-contrast imaging, spectroscopic
instrument mainly for direct detection and spectroscopy of extra-solar planets in the near-to-mid infrared wavelengths to
characterize their atmospheres, physical parameters and evolutionary scenarios. SCI is now under the international
review process. In this paper, we present a science case of SCI. The main targets of SCI, not only for direct imaging but
also for spectroscopy, are young to matured giant planets. We will also show that some of known exoplanets by ground-based
direct detection are good targets for SCI, and a number of direct detection planets that are suitable for SCI will be
significantly increased in the next decade. Second, a general design of SCI and a key technology including a new high-throughput
binary mask coronagraph, will be presented. Furthermore, we will show that SCI is potentially capable of
achieving 10-6 contrast by a PSF subtraction method, even with a telescope pointing error. This contrast enhancement
will be important to characterize low-mass and cool planets.
A mid-infrared (MIR) imager and spectrometer is being investigated for possible consideration for construction
in the early operation of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). Combined with adaptive optics for the MIR, the
instrument will afford 15 times higher sensitivity (0.1mJy as 5 sigma detection in 1hour integration in the N-band
imaging) and 4 times better spatial resolution (0.08") at 10μm compared to 8m-class telescopes. In addition, its
large light-gathering power allows high-dispersion spectroscopy in the MIR that will be unrivaled by any other
facility. We, a collaborating team of Japanese and US MIR astronomers, have carefully considered the science
drivers for the TMT MIR instrument. Such an instrument would offer both broad and potentially transformative
science. Furthering the science cases for the MIRES1, where high-dispersion spectroscopy was emphasized, we
discuss additional capabilities for the instrument drawn from the enlarged science cases. The science cases include
broader areas of astronomical fields: star and planet formation, solar system bodies, evolved stars, interstellar
medium (ISM), extragalaxies, and cosmology. Based on these science drivers, essential instrument capabilities
and key enhancement are discussed (see the companion paper Tokunaga et al. 20102): specifically imaging, lowand
high-spectral resolution modes, integral field spectroscopy, and polarimetry.
A mid-infrared imager and spectrometer is under consideration for construction in the first decade of the Thirty-
Meter Telescope (TMT) operation (see the companion paper by Okamoto). MIRES, a mid-infrared high-spectral
resolution optimized instrument, was previously proposed to provide these capabilities to the TMT community.
We have revised the design in order to provide an improved optical design for the high-spectral resolution
mode with R=120,000, improved imaging with sky chopping, low-spectral resolution mode with an integral
field spectrograph, and polarimetry. In this paper we describe the optical design concepts currently under
consideration.
Mid Infrared Spectrometer with an Image Slicer (MIRSIS) is a compact mid-infrared spectrometer with an image slicer
as a testbed of techniques for efficient observations with next generation telescopes. MIRSIS is a 10-micron band
spectrometer for ground-based observations. Optics of MIRSIS is mostly composed of reflective ones. A key point of the
development of MIRSIS is a fabrication of slicer optics, which consists of slice mirrors, pupil mirrors and pseudo slit
mirrors. It is necessary to develop fabrication technique of slicer optics, because shapes and alignment of these mirrors
are special. Here it is also important to choose the design matched to the processing method. In this paper, we report our
fabrication of the slicer optics elements in detail. As a result, we achieved the slice mirror with the micro-roughness of
RMS 12nm and the angle accuracy of under 0.0041deg, the pupil mirror with the micro-roughness of RMS 20nm and
the shape accuracy of PV 3micron, and the pseudo slit mirror with the angle accuracy of 0.02deg. All of the parts
fabricated satisfy the required specification.
Mid-Infrared Spectrometer with an Image Slicer (MIRSIS) is a 10micron band spectrometer for ground-based
observations. Based on the optical design reported in Okamoto et al. (2006), we recently developed most of
optical elements and their mounts. There, we adopted designs based on an ultra-precision cut for the slice mirrors
and the pupil mirrors. We also designed and partly manufactured the optical parts with switching/adjusting
mechanism with cryogenic step motors. Since MIRSIS has a very complicated stereoscopic configuration of
optical elements, we developed a method to adjust the optical alignment where relative positional markers and
a three-dimensional measuring system are combined. We confirmed that we can achieve position and angular
adjustment with error down to 0.1mm and 0.05degree through alignment test with a pair of mirrors.
We present our high spectral resolution tandem Fabry-Perot (FP) spectrometer for detecting the pure rotational
transition line of molecular Hydrogen S (1) at 17.035 μm. It is designed to be attached to a new dedicated 1
m telescope planned to be put at a dry and high-altitude site. The spectrometer has two sequentially placed
FP units (order 1000 and 99 with finesse >50) consisting of ZnSe etalons and one narrow band filter. We will
be able to obtain high spectral resolution of R=50,000 at 17.035 μm. The ZnSe etalons of 110mm diameter
with >94% reflectance are to be provided from Barr Associates. The interval and tilt of etalons are sensed and
regulated by piezo actuators and newly-developed capacitance sensors, which resolve 100nm in vacuum and 30K
environment. By changing the interval, we change the wavelength of transmission up to 17.2 μm, corresponding
toν = 3000 km/s. We adopt an on-axis catadioptric system, in which the two FP units are placed. The focal
plane detector is a Raytheon SB-774, 320×240 pixel array of Si:As, yielding 9.1 × 6.8 arcmin2 field of view with
1.7 arcsec pixel scale. To suppress the thermal background radiation and dark current of the Si:As detector, the
system is cooled down to 6K at the detector and 35K for the whole optical system by two refrigerators. The
development of spectrometer will be completed in 2007.
A spectrometer with integral field units on large optical/infrared telescopes enables efficient spectroscopy of moderately extended objects. In future mid-infrared observations with 30m class telescopes, where circumstellar disks larger than the spatial resolution will be major targets, such efficient observations are strongly desirable. Here we present an optical design of our new N-band image slicing spectrometer to test basic techniques for future image slicing spectrometers on larger telescopes. Our prototype image slicer follows the idea of the advanced image slicer considering not only object images but also pupil images and is optimized for the N-band (10 micron atmospheric window). Five slicing mirrors and five pupil mirrors are used to slice the field of view and make a rearranged pseudo slit image. The pseudo slit image is collimated, dispersed by a grating, and imaged on a Si:As 320x240 array. For the slicing mirrors, we plan to use polished stainless mirrors of 300 micron width. The spectral resolution is set as about 200. We plan to put an imaging optics module for target aquisition in addition to the simple image slicer module. The whole optics is designed to be compact (about 600mm x 450mm x 300 mm), which will allow us to make test observations easily with various telescopes.
We developed a new data acquisition device for COMICS, a mid
infrared instrument of the Subaru telescope. The new device was
installed in place of our previous data acquisition device with a lower data transfer speed. The new device is 32 bit PCI bus and PC Linux based and provides bus-master DMA transfer function. It consists of a clock pattern generator, frame memories, and an image co-adder. In order to achieve high operational efficiency for mid infrared instruments, the data handling speed is essential as well as the speed of A/D converter. The data transfer to the hard disk drive on the PC is made during acquiring the data at the rate
higher than the data generation rate. As a result, we succeeded
to reduce the dead time due to the data transfer procedure from
60 sec to less than 1 sec for 200 frames (64M bytes). Furthermore
by replacing the host computer by a higher performance PC, the
observation efficiency of COMICS was improved from 44% to 74%
in the imaging mode. This PCI based data acquisition device can
also be applied to the other instruments that have fast data rates.
COMICS is an observatory and mid-infrared instrument for the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope. It is designed for imaging and spectroscopic observations in the N- (8-13 micron) and Q-bands (16-25 micron) atmospheric windows. The design and very preliminary performances at the first light observations in December 1999 were reported at the SPIE meeting in 2000. We describe here the improved performances of COMICS and capability of high spectral resolution spectrocopy which became available from December 2001. We will also briefly report preliminary scientific results.
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