Multiband filters for near-infrared astronomical applications

Filters for astronomical imaging traditionally have a simple bandpass that admits (more or less equally) all the photons within some bandwith ▵λ around some central wavelength λ0. However, there are situations where not all photons are equally desirable. We plan to develop and apply multiband filters for practical astronomical application. A multiband filter is a bandpass filter whose transmission dips to zero at select, undesired wavelength ranges. Anticipated applications include (i) OH-suppressing filters, especially in the J band (λc ≈ 1.2μm); (ii) economy of filter slots through multi-band filters used in series with broad blocking filters; and (iii) efficient searches for object classes with highly structured spectra. We present the design and anticipated photometric properties of a prototype reduced-background JR filter, which we plan to buy and test in 2010.