The Wide Integral Field Infrared Spectrograph (WIFIS): optomechanical design and development

Meyer, E.; Sivanandam, Suresh; Ma, Ke; Henderson, C.; Blank, Basil; Chou, Chueh-Yi; Jarvis, M.; Eikenberry, S. S.

doi:10.1117/12.2231260

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The critical aspects of WIFIS's optical and mechanical design details are discussed elsewhere. [8][9][10] For reference, we show the overall optical and mechanical layout of WIFIS in Figure 1. Tables 1 and 2 provide the details of the integral field spectrograph and the AGC respectively.…”

Section: Instrument Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The original concept and design details for this instrument can be found in previous work. [8][9][10] This powerful new instrument will be able to image large sections of nearby galaxies in a single shot and complement current visible-light IFS surveys of nearby galaxies. We organize the paper as follows: in Section 2, we discuss the scientific drivers for the instrument; in Section 3, we outline the overall design and measured parameters for the instrument; in Section 4, we highlight the calibration and observation techniques we have developed for WIFIS; in Section 5, we summarize the features of the WIFIS data reduction pipeline; in Section 6, we present the overall performance of the instrument and example results and outstanding performance issues; and finally in Section 7, we summarize our findings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The wide integral field infrared spectrograph: commissioning results and on-sky performance

Sivanandam

Moon

Meyer

et al. 2018

Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII

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We have recently commissioned a novel infrared (0.9 − 1.7 µm) integral field spectrograph (IFS) called the Wide Integral Field Infrared Spectrograph (WIFIS). WIFIS is a unique instrument that offers a very large field-of-view (50 x 20 ) on the 2.3-meter Bok telescope at Kitt Peak, USA for seeing-limited observations at moderate spectral resolving power. The measured spatial sampling scale is ∼ 1 × 1 and its spectral resolving power is R ∼ 2, 500 and 3, 000 in the zJ (0.9 − 1.35 µm) and H short (1.5 − 1.7 µm) modes, respectively. WIFIS's corresponding etendue is larger than existing near-infrared (NIR) IFSes, which are mostly designed to work with adaptive optics systems and therefore have very narrow fields. For this reason, this instrument is specifically suited for studying very extended objects in the near-infrared such as supernovae remnants, galactic star forming regions, and nearby galaxies, which are not easily accessible by other NIR IFSes. This enables scientific programs that were not originally possible, such as detailed surveys of a large number of nearby galaxies or a full accounting of nucleosynthetic yields of Milky Way supernova remnants. WIFIS is also designed to be easily adaptable to be used with larger telescopes. In this paper, we report on the overall performance characteristics of the instrument, which were measured during our commissioning runs in the second half of 2017. We present measurements of spectral resolving power, image quality, instrumental background, and overall efficiency and sensitivity of WIFIS and compare them with our design expectations. Finally, we present a few example observations that demonstrate WIFIS's full capability to carry out infrared imaging spectroscopy of extended objects, which is enabled by our custom data reduction pipeline.Young supernova remnants (SNRs) are rich in NIR lines, which serve as diagnostics of supernova nucleosynthetic processes and explosions. This is especially true for the zJ-band that has transitions of iron, sulphur, phosphorus, oxygen, carbon, and helium, which have crucial information for the supernova nucleosynthesis and explosion mechanisms. WIFIS observations will make it possible to conduct precise abundance comparisons of the supernova nucleosynthetic elements. For instance, we have recently discovered an increased abundance of phosphorus in Casseopia A, 11 confirming the in-situ creation of phosphorus -one of the six indispensable elements of human * The principal investigator of WIFIS is Dae-Sik Moon.

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Section: Instrument Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The wide integral field infrared spectrograph: commissioning results and on-sky performance

Sivanandam

Moon

Meyer

et al. 2018

Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII

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“…The image-slicer IFS offers a number of advantages, including continuous acquisition, three-dimensional spectral imaging, and high temporal resolution detection. It is a pivotal technology in the development of complex astronomical scientific instruments, as evidenced by the following references: [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. At present, only a select number of typical astronomical telescopes are equipped with the image-slicer IFS [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Design of a Hyperspectral Remote-Sensing System Based on an Image-Slicer Integral Field Unit in the Short-Wave Infrared Band

Ding,

Liu,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Sensors

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Grating-type spectral imaging systems are frequently employed in scenes for high-resolution remote-sensing observations of the Earth. However, the entrance of the grating-type spectral imaging system is a slit or a pinhole. This structure relies on the push broom method, which presents a challenge in capturing spectral information of transiently changing targets. To address this issue, the IFU is used to slice the focal plane of the telescope system, thereby expanding the instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of the grating-type spectral imaging system. The aberrations introduced by the expansion of the single-slice field of view (FOV) of the IFU are corrected, and the conversion of the IFU’s FOV from arcseconds to degrees is achieved. The design of a spectral imaging system based on an image-slicer IFU for remote sensing is finally completed. The system has a wavelength range of 1400 nm to 2000 nm, and a spectral resolution of better than 3 nm. Compared with the traditional grating-type spectral imaging system, its IFOV is expanded by a factor of four. And it allows for the capture of complete spectral information of transiently changing targets through a single exposure. The simulation results demonstrate that the system has good performance at each sub-slit, thereby validating the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed system for dynamic target capture in remote sensing.

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Initial Mass Function Variation in Two Elliptical Galaxies Using Near-infrared Tracers

Meyer

Sivanandam

Moon

2019

ApJ

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Using integral field spectroscopy, we demonstrate that gravity-sensitive absorption features in the zJ-band (0.9-1.35 µm) can constrain the low-mass stellar initial mass function (IMF) in the cores of two elliptical galaxies, M85 and M87. Compared to the visible bands, the near-infrared (NIR) is more sensitive to light from low-mass dwarf stars, whose relative importance is the primary subject of the debate over IMF variations in nearby galaxies. Our analysis compares the observed spectra to the latest stellar population synthesis models by employing two different methods: equivalent widths and spectral fitting. We find that the IMF slopes in M85 are similar to the canonical Milky Way IMF with a median IMF-mismatch parameter α K = 1.26. In contrast, we find that the IMF in M87 is steeper than a Salpeter IMF with α K = 2.77. The derived stellar population parameters, including the IMF slopes, are consistent with those from recent results in the visible bands based on spectroscopic and kinematic techniques. Certain elemental abundances, e.g. Na and Fe, have dramatic effects on the IMF-sensitive features and therefore the derived IMF slopes. We show evidence for a high [Na/H] ∼ 0.65 dex in the core of M85 from two independent Na I absorption features. The high Na abundance may be the result of a recent galactic merger involving M85. This suggests that including [Na/H] in the stellar population model parameters is critical for constraining the IMF slopes in M85. These results confirm the viability of using NIR absorption features to investigate IMF variation in nearby galaxies.

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The Wide Integral Field Infrared Spectrograph (WIFIS): optomechanical design and development

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

The wide integral field infrared spectrograph: commissioning results and on-sky performance

The wide integral field infrared spectrograph: commissioning results and on-sky performance

Optical Design of a Hyperspectral Remote-Sensing System Based on an Image-Slicer Integral Field Unit in the Short-Wave Infrared Band

Initial Mass Function Variation in Two Elliptical Galaxies Using Near-infrared Tracers

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