We are under integrating off-axis freeform mirrors for the KASI Deep Rolling Imaging Fast Telescope Generation 1 (KDRIFT G1) using a coordinate measuring machine and assembly jig. The telescope is a confocal off-axis freeform threemirror system designed for the detection of extremely low surface brightness structures in the sky. The optical specifications of the K-DRIFT G1 are as follows: the entrance pupil diameter is 300 mm, the focal ratio is 3.5, and the field of view is 4.43° × 4.43°. During the integration stage, we used a coordinate measuring machine to measure the positions of the mirrors, flexures, and bezels within a tolerance range. Following the system integration, we will measure wavefront errors at several edge fields using an interferometer at 633 nm. In this paper, we briefly present the current status of the K-DRIFT G1 and the future plans for the project.
We fabricated three freeform mirrors for the KASI-Deep Rolling Imaging Fast Telescope pathfinder, which is a confocal off-axis freeform three-mirror system with a 300 mm entrance pupil diameter. During the fabrication process, we light-weighted the primary mirror, reducing its weight by 52%. Front surfaces of these off-axis freeform mirrors were formed by a series of production process, including grinding, polishing, forming, and finishing. Measuring surface profile has been performed by using Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) for the grinding process and an interferometer with Computer Generated Holograms (CGHs) for polishing, forming, and finishing process. The test results for all three mirrors were well within the required value of 20 nm RMS.
We have developed the KASI-Deep Rolling Imaging Fast Telescope (K-DRIFT), adopting a 300 mm aperture off-axis freeform three-mirror design to detect faint and diffuse low-surface-brightness structures. By conducting the on-sky test observations and performing a series of simulations to analyze the performance of the K-DRIFT, we confirmed three main error sources causing optical performance degradation. The imaging performance of the K-DRIFT has successfully improved by correcting low-to-mid spatial frequency wavefront errors based on performance analysis results. This paper presents the K-DRIFT’s optical performance analysis algorithm and the optical performance improvement.
We are developing the KASI-Deep Rolling Imaging Fast Telescope Generation 1 (K-DRIFT G1) based on the on-site performance assessment of the K-DRIFT pathfinder. The telescope is a confocal off-axis freeform three-mirror system designed for the detection of extremely low surface brightness structures in the sky. The optical specifications of the K-DRIFT G1 are as follows: the entrance pupil diameter is 300 mm, the focal ratio is 3.5, the field of view is 4.43° × 4.43°, and the image area is 81.2 mm × 81.2 mm with 10 μm pixels. We performed sensitivity analysis and tolerance simulations to integrate and align the system. We present the analysis results and development plan of the K-DRIFT G1.
This conference presentation was prepared for the Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes IX conference at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022.
The prototype of KASI-Deep Rolling Imaging Fast-optics Telescope (K-DRIFT) pathfinder is a 300 mm confocal off-axis freeform three-mirror system that has been developed for the detection of extended low surface brightness (LSB; below μV = 28 mag arcsec-2) structures. Until now, it is still very difficult to observe the LSB features due to systematic errors introduced by natural and instrumental effects. To overcome these, we apply the confocal off-axis telescope design theory that removed linear astigmatism, and each mirror made of Zerodur is set as a freeform surface to remove the residual aberration. Through the design, we can get high-quality images in a wide field of view and minimize sky background fluctuations. The size of the entrance pupil of the telescope is 300 mm and the focal length is 1200 mm. The field of view of the telescope is ~1° × 1° and the size of the focal plane is 22.5 mm × 22.5 mm. We have measured root mean square wavefront errors of the system after integration of the mirrors, flexures, and housing. At off-axis fields, the maximum root mean square wavefront error before the alignment is 260 nm, and decreased to 115 nm after alignment. Alignment-induced astigmatism and coma were almost eliminated through the process. In this paper, we briefly present the integration and alignment process of the K-DRIFT pathfinder and the current status of the project.
We undertake to build a new cross dispersed infrared spectrograph, whose design is a heritage of IGRINS, will be deployed at Gemini Telescope as facility instrument (IGRINS II). The Sunpower Cryotel GT cryocooler may be replaced with the current GM cooler in the future. The only drawback of using a stirling cryocooler is vibration and this may have a significant influence to astronomical instrument by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. On this test the induced vibration in all three axes were measured simultaneously on the external cyrostats bottom and internal cold stage linked to coldhead by a flexible thermal strap. The cryocooler was integrated with a compliant mount of the neoprene rubber or spring. The test was carried out with both the tuned vibration absorber (TVA) damper and active vibration cancellation (AVC) unit, when the temperature of cold stage went down to 70 K.
Due to the high toughness of SiC material, in general, the polishing time of a SiC mirror has been challenging to determine by optician. In the optical shop, optician normally enters input parameters into a polishing machine prior to polish out the mirror surface. The target surface removal rate, specified by an optician, are highly depending on polishing schedule. A very tight polishing schedule commonly thrusts adventurous larger target quantities on the optician. However, the target numbers should be determined by the reliability of relationships between the machine input parameter and output removal rate. In this paper, we introduce an initial model which can reliably suggest machine input parameters for polishing head. These parameters can control polishing processes to achieve the target TIF (Tool Influence Function) depth which is an unit polishing removal quantity on the SiC mirror optical surfaces.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
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.