SparsePak: A Formatted Fiber Field Unit for The WIYN Telescope Bench Spectrograph. I. Design, Construction, and Calibration

Details SparsePak: A Formatted Fiber Field Unit for The WIYN Telescope Bench Spectrograph. I. Design, Construction, and Calibration SparsePak: A Formatted Fiber Field Unit for The WIYN Telescope Bench Spectrograph. I. Design, Construction, and Calibration

2004-03-18

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0403456v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

accepted for publication in PASP; 17 pages text, 16 figures (embedded)

Scientific paper

10.1086/421057

We describe the design and construction of a formatted fiber field-unit, SparsePak, and characterize its optical and astrometric performance. This array is optimized for spectroscopy of low-surface brightness, extended sources in the visible and near-infrared. SparsePak contains 82, 4.7" fibers subtending an area of 72"x71" in the telescope focal plane, and feeds the WIYN Bench spectrograph. Together, these instruments are capable of achieving spectral resolutions of lambda/dlambda ~ 20000 and an area--solid-angle product of ~140 arcsec^2 m^2 per fiber. Laboratory measurements of SparsePak lead to several important conclusions on the design of fiber termination and cable curvature to minimize focal ratio degradation. SparsePak itself has throughput >80% redwards of 5200 A, and 90-92% in the red. Fed at f/6.3, the cable delivers an output 90% encircled energy at nearly f/5.2. This has implications for performance gains if the WIYN Bench Spectrograph had a faster collimator. Our approach to integral-field spectroscopy yields an instrument which is simple and inexpensive to build, yet yields the highest area--solid-angle product per spectrum of any system in existence. An Appendix details the fabrication process in sufficient detail for others to repeat. SparsePak was funded by the National Science Foundation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School, and is now publicly available on the WIYN Telescope through the National Optical Astronomical Observatories.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

SparsePak: A Formatted Fiber Field Unit for The WIYN Telescope Bench Spectrograph. I. Design, Construction, and Calibration does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with SparsePak: A Formatted Fiber Field Unit for The WIYN Telescope Bench Spectrograph. I. Design, Construction, and Calibration, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and SparsePak: A Formatted Fiber Field Unit for The WIYN Telescope Bench Spectrograph. I. Design, Construction, and Calibration will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-335467