PMAS fiber module: design, manufacture, and performance optimization

PMAS, the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer, is a new integral field (IF or 3D) instrument. It features a lenslet/optical fiber type integral field module and a dedicated fiber spectrograph. As the instrumental emphasis is on photometric stability and high efficiency, good flat field characteristic across the integral field is needed. The PMAS fiber module is unique in the sense that the design allows the replacement of individual fibers. This property, together with the fact that the fibers are index-matched at both ends, makes it possible to achieve and maintain a high efficiency. We present the opto-mechanical design for this fiber-module and, using various data sets from previous observing runs, demonstrate the increase of performance as a result of the optimization of the fiber-components.