Paper
7 March 2003 LBC: the prime focus optical imagers at the LBT telescope
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Abstract
The Large Binocular Camera (LBC) is the double optical imager that will be installed at the prime foci of the Large Binocular Telescope (2x8.4 m). Four Italian observatories are cooperating in this project: Rome (CCD Camera), Arcetri-Padua (Optical Corrector) and Trieste (Software). LBC is composed by two separated large field (27 arcmin FOV) cameras, one optimized for the UBV bands and the second for the VRIZ bands. An optical corrector balances the aberrations induced by the fast (F#=1.14) parabolic primary mirror of LBT, assuring that the 80% of the PSF encircled energy falls inside one pixel for more of the 90% of the field. Each corrector uses six lenses with the first having a diameter of 80cm and the third with an aspherical surface. Two filter wheels allow the use of 8 filters. The two channels have similar optical designs satisfying the same requirements, but differ in the lens glasses: fused silica for the "blue" arm and BK7 for the "red" one. The two focal plane cameras use an array of four 4290 chips (4.5x2 K) provided by Marconi optimized for the maximum quantum efficiency (85%) in each channel. The sampling is 0.23 arcseconds/pixel. The arrays are cooled by LN2 cryostats assuring 24 hours of operation. Here we present a description of the project and its current status including a report about the Blue camera and its laboratory tests. This instrument is planned to be the first light instrument of LBT.
© (2003) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Fernando Pedichini, Emanuele Giallongo, Roberto Ragazzoni, Andrea Di Paola, Adriano Fontana, Roberto Speziali, Jacopo Farinato, Andrea Baruffolo, Carlo E. Magagna, Emiliano Diolaiti, Fabio Pasian, Riccardo Smareglia, Enzo Anaclerio, Daniele Gallieni, and Paolo G. Lazzarini "LBC: the prime focus optical imagers at the LBT telescope", Proc. SPIE 4841, Instrument Design and Performance for Optical/Infrared Ground-based Telescopes, (7 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461011
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Cited by 9 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Cameras

Telescopes

Charge-coupled devices

Sensors

Stars

Camera shutters

Control systems

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