Development and performance of the MUSE calibration unit

The Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), an integral-field spectrograph for the ESO Very Large Telescope, has been built and integrated by a consortium of 7 European institutes. MUSE can simultaneously record spectra across a field of view of 1 square arcminute in the wavelength range from 465nm to 930nm. The calibration unit (CU) for MUSE was developed to provide accurate flat fielding, spectral, geometrical, image quality and efficiency calibration for both the wide-field and AO-assisted narrow-field modes. This paper describes the performance of the CU and electronics, from the subsystem validation to the integration, alignment and use in the MUSE instrument.

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