Optical design of FALCON: a wide-field spectrograph and imager for the Magellan Baade 6.5 meter telescope

John J. Piotrowski; Stephen A. Shectman; Jeffrey D. Crane

doi:10.1117/12.3020832

18 July 2024 Optical design of FALCON: a wide-field spectrograph and imager for the Magellan Baade 6.5 meter telescope

John J. Piotrowski, Stephen A. Shectman, Jeffrey D. Crane

Proceedings Volume 13096, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy X; 1309694 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020832
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

FALCON is a conceptual, multi-purpose, facility instrument for the Magellan I Baade telescope designed to enable astronomical research across a variety of disciplines. The instrument has three primary operational configurations: moderate resolution spectroscopy (R(1.5 ′′ slit) = 1560 to R(0.4 ′′ slit) = 5860), high resolution spectroscopy (R(1.5 ′′ slit) = 3110 to R(0.4 ′′ slit) = 11650), and imaging, all of which are corrected for seeing-limited performance from 3300 Å to 10500 Å. The camera optics are constrained to be under 200 mm in diameter by splitting the field of view in half and directing each half into an identical spectrograph. The design achieves high throughput (>60%) by further splitting the light into four spectral channels, for a total of eight spectral channels and a 23 ′ × 23 ′ field of view with a small gap between halves of the field. There is a dedicated imaging channel with an 18 ′ × 18 ′ field of view. The optics in all nine channels are designed to not degrade the best 10th percentile seeing-limited point spread function by more than 10%. We address this stringent requirement by using a novel, wide-angle camera design that is inspired by an Erfle eyepiece. We present the lens design, optical performance, and an initial sensitivity analysis of FALCON.

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

John J. Piotrowski, Stephen A. Shectman, and Jeffrey D. Crane "Optical design of FALCON: a wide-field spectrograph and imager for the Magellan Baade 6.5 meter telescope", Proc. SPIE 13096, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy X, 1309694 (18 July 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020832

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