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Enhancing SOAR Telescope with Integral Field Hexabundles: A $300K Challenge

The Morehead Saga documents the initial phase of testing Integral Field Hexabundles aimed at enhancing the SOAR telescope's capabilities. With budgets ranging from $10K to $300K, this project seeks to improve spectral performance through innovative fiber bundle technology. Key challenges include optimizing the layout of the fiber bundles, addressing prototype issues such as non-telecentricity and scattered light, and ensuring accurate positioner servo performance. The project aims for high spectral resolution while managing throughput and fiber integrity for effective astronomical observations.

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Enhancing SOAR Telescope with Integral Field Hexabundles: A $300K Challenge

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  1. The Morehead Saga (Frustrating) Tests of Integral Field Hexabundles for SOAR

  2. Speeding up 4m telescope for $300K or $10K or … $75K Research Corp. (1st phase)

  3. Hexabundles

  4. Fusing will trigger FRD

  5. Deployable IFU • Four 4.5” diam. IFUs rove 10’x5’ >50” apart • Each fused bundle -> single fibers (U. Sydney collab.) • Each 61 fibers 0.45” • Measured 75% filling, 95% soon

  6. Prototype issues to fix $45 5-mm diam. achromat • Non-telecentricity & FRD (f/16.5 -> f/10) 0.”3 to 0.”45/pix • Scattered light & cross-talk • Positioner servo accuracy ok? • 0.3x0.9 arcsec2 error ellipse • Test jig ready to measure • Fiber routing/handling (presently just break fibers  ) bundle Probe near centre vs edge of 10x5’ fov

  7. Layout

  8. Lucky Imaging EMCCD acquisition/sky monitoring camera Gantry for Goodman

  9. Mounting fiber slit blocks • Interleave spectra from 4 blocks, total 61 • 3 broken fibers, a dozen diminished throughput

  10. Goodman “slit” now 100 microns wide -> higher spectral R Fibers

  11. Back illuminating

  12. Mangling a spectrograph • Remove cal lamp, slit, decker, off-slit viewer • Add fiber bundle feed through top, attach bundle to Morehead f/13.5 Cass. • Apogee 1530x1024 CCD covers 21“ diam @ 2.4”

  13. Long slit mode

  14. Fibers: dispersed daylight

  15. = sunlight (+ O3 + … ) Test on stars, Pne, mosaic to 1x1’ on Orion … But spectrograph very slow (collimator unreflective)

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