Extremely Large Telescope Instrumentation: HIRES and MOSAIC
Project description
The 39m ELT will be the largest astronomical telescope ever built. For spectroscopic analysis, the light collected by the ELT will be carried by optical fibers to the spectrometers called HIRES and MOSAIC. Three major Swedish universities (Lund, Stockholm and Uppsala) take active parts in design and construction of these instruments. The coupling of fibers with other optical elements is crucial for efficiency and stability. The new instruments will measure the values of fundamental physical constants back in time, the expansion rate of the Universe etc. They will also search for atmospheres around Earth, -such as exoplanets, and make chemical analysis in order to detect signatures of life.
The project also involved the developement of a unique technology for CO2 laser fusion of fiber cores with other optical components that matches high requirements of astronomical instrumentation and repeatedly delivers excellent quality.
Year
Team
Uppsala University:
- Nikolai Piskunov, professor, specialist in stars and exoplanets, astronomical spectroscopy
Core deliverables
- For HIRES: 32 optical bundles with 64 or 96 fibers each coupled to microlens arrays on both sides.
- For MOSAIC: 2000 bundles with 7 fibers each coupled to re-imaging optics on one side and to image slicer on the other.
Industry involvement
- Nyfors
- ELT instruments
Total budget
Collaborations
- Uppsala University
- Stockholm University
- Lund Universitiy