Bibcode
Gál, C.; Sánchez, F. Müller; Krabbe, A.; Eisenhauer, F.; Iserlohe, C.; Haug, M.; Herbst, T. M.
Bibliographical reference
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II. Edited by McLean, Ian S.; Casali, Mark M. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 7014, pp. 70147E-70147E-12 (2008).
Advertised on:
8
2008
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We present a feasible design concept and the science drivers for the
proposed near-infrared interferometric integral field spectrograph at
the LBT. Combining interferometric resolution with an integral field
spectrograph is a very promising instrument concept for detailed studies
down to below 10 mas angular resolution in the NIR. If approved, the
instrument will become an extension to the LINC-NIRVANA instrument,
which is under construction. In this contribution an opto-mechanical
design concept has been studied in detail: that places the integral
field unit into an existing empty compartment within the LINC hardware.
Several optical and mechanical challenges have been successfully
mastered, among them: - the limitation of the achievable angular
resolution due to the parallactic angle rotation versus the LBT
baseline, - the anamorphic magnification required by the LBT optics
design to optimize the detector information content, and - integrating
the IFU into the existing LINC cryostat without interfering with the
existing optics and mechanics. The science program spans from solar
system studies and spectroscopy of exoplanets to the black hole dynamics
in the center of our and other galaxies.