Development of a cryogenic system for the VIRUS array of 150 spectrographs for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Taylor S. Chonis; Brian L. Vattiat; Gary J. Hill; J. L. Marshall; Kris Cabral; D. L. DePoy; Michael P. Smith; John M. Good; John A. Booth; Marc D. Rafal; Richard D. Savage

doi:10.1117/12.857362

20 July 2010 Development of a cryogenic system for the VIRUS array of 150 spectrographs for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Taylor S. Chonis, Brian L. Vattiat, Gary J. Hill, J. L. Marshall, Kris Cabral, D. L. DePoy, Michael P. Smith, John M. Good, John A. Booth, Marc D. Rafal, Richard D. Savage

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III; 773576 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857362
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The upcoming Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) has provided motivation for upgrading the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at the McDonald Observatory. This upgrade includes an increase in the field-of-view to accommodate the new and revolutionary Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS). VIRUS is the instrument designed to conduct the HETDEX survey and consists of 150 individual integral-field spectrographs fed by 33,600 total optical fibers covering the 22 arc-minute field-of-view of the upgraded HET. The spectrographs are mounted in four enclosures, each 6.0×3.0×1.4 meters in size. Each spectrograph contains a CCD detector that must be cryogenically cooled, presenting an interesting cryogenic and vacuum challenge within the distribution system. In this paper, we review the proposed vacuum jacketed, thermal siphon, liquid nitrogen distribution system used to cool the array of detectors and discuss recent developments. We focus on the design, prototyping, and testing of a novel "make-break" thermal connector, built from a modified cryogenic bayonet, that is used to quickly detach a single spectrograph pair from the system.

Citation Download Citation

Taylor S. Chonis, Brian L. Vattiat, Gary J. Hill, J. L. Marshall, Kris Cabral, D. L. DePoy, Michael P. Smith, John M. Good, John A. Booth, Marc D. Rafal, and Richard D. Savage "Development of a cryogenic system for the VIRUS array of 150 spectrographs for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope", Proc. SPIE 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 773576 (20 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857362

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available