The LINC-NIRVANA cryogenic interferometric camera

The LINC-NIRVANA instrument is a 1-2.5 micron Fizeau interferometric imager, which combines the light of the two 8.4 m mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope on Mt. Graham in Arizona. The cryogenic camera forms the heart of the science channel of this instrument, delivering a 1 arcmin diameter field of view with 5 mas spatial resolution. The center 10x10 arcseconds, initially limited by the size of the 2048x2048 Hawaii-2 detector, are used for science observations. For simplicity, the camera has a fixed, F/32 optical path of the combined beams, leading to wavelength-dependent sampling. We describe the main components of the camera, as well as present the calculations of interferometric performance and the required opto-mechanical tolerances. We demonstrate that specially designed components can reach these specifications.

[1]  Sebastiano Ligori,et al.  The MPIA detector system for the LBT instruments LUCIFER and LINC-NIRVANA , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[2]  John M. Hill,et al.  The Large Binocular Telescope project , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[3]  Peter Bizenberger,et al.  Cooling of ground-based telescope instrumentation: the LINC-NIRVANA cryostat , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[4]  W A Traub,et al.  Combining beams from separated telescopes. , 1986, Applied optics.

[5]  Piero Salinari.  Large Binocular Telescope , 1999, Other Conferences.

[6]  Peter Bizenberger,et al.  Characterization, testing, and operation of Omega2000 wide-field infrared camera , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[7]  Roberto Ragazzoni,et al.  The LINC-NIRVANA testbed Fizeau interferometer , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[8]  Harald Baumeister,et al.  Cryogenic actuators in ground-based astronomical instrumentation , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[9]  Roberto Ragazzoni,et al.  The fringe and flexure tracking system for LINC-NIRVANA: basic design and principle of operation , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[10]  Peter Bizenberger,et al.  Achieving a wide-field near-infrared camera for the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope , 2000, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.