Author Submission

  Conference: 
        Instrument Design and Performance for Optical/Infrared Ground-Based Telescopes (AS08) 
  Chairs: 
        Masanori Iye 
        Alan Moorwood 



   Submitted: 28 January 

   Title:
   MOIRCS : Multi-Object Infrared Camera and Spectrograph for the Subaru Telescope 

   Principal Author:
   Chihiro Tokoku

   Secondary Authors:
   Takashi Ichikawa, Ryuji Suzuki, Ken'ichiro Asai, Yuka Katsuno
   (Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University)

   Koji Omata
   (Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

   Toru Yamada
   (Optical and IR Astronomy Division, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

   Takashi Tsuda, Toshio Chiba, Atsuo Sasaki
   (Technical Division, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University)

   Tetsuo Nishimura
   (Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

   Abstract:
   MOIRCS (Multi-Object InfraRed Camera and Spectrograph) is one of
   the second generation instruments for the Subaru Telescope under
   construction by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and
   Tohoku University. MOIRCS will provide imaging capability from 0.8 um
   to 2.5 um as well as multi-object spectroscopy across the 4' x 7' field
   of view at the Cassegrain focus of the Subaru Telescope. The focal
   plane is imaged onto two 2048x2048 HAWAII 2 HgCdTe arrays at the
   spatial sampling rate of 0.12"/pixel with slight overlap of the two
   square fields. All-lens optical design is optimized for z, J, H, and
   K-bands with emphasis on K-band performance and high throughput.

   Unique design of MOIRCS allows multi-object spectroscopy at K-band
   with cooled multi-slit masks. Twenty-four masks are stored in a
   carrousel dewar and exchangeable in the cryogenic environment. The
   carrousel has its own vacuum pump and cryogenic refrigerator
   independently from the MOIRCS main dewar, which is connected with
   a gate valve. The mask turret inside the carrousel can be accessed for
   the installation of a new set of masks without breaking the vacuum of
   the main dewar. The two-channel optics and arrays are mounted
   back-to-back on a single optical bench in the main dewar together
   with three turrets each for filters and grisms. A PC-Linux based
   infrared array control system was designed and optimized for the
   HAWAII 2 array operation. For other housekeeping tasks we use a
   commercial instrument control program package. We are targeting
   first light of MOIRCS in the spring of 2003.

   Principal Author Affiliation: 
   Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University
   650 North A'ohoku Place
   Hilo , HI 96720 
   U.S.A. 
   Phone: +1-808-934-5080
   Fax: +1-808-934-5984

   Principal Author Biography:
   Chihiro Tokoku is a graduate student of Astronomical Institute,
   Tohoku University. She received the B.S. in Physics from Tokyo
   Metropolitan University in 1998, and the M.S. in Astronomy from
   Tohoku University in 2001. Her research interests are observational
   study of large scale structure and galaxy evolution in the early
   universe. She is currently working on the development of MOIRCS
   for the Subaru Telescope and hopes to utilize the instrument for
   her research goals. 

   Correspondence for Secondary Authors:
   Takashi Ichikawa, Ryuji Suzuki, Ken'ichiro Asai, Yuka Katsuno
   Aoba, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
   +81-22-217-6500(tel) / +81-22-217-6513(fax)

   Koji Omata
   650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, U.S.A
   +1-808-934-5093(tel) / +1-808-934-5984(fax)

   Toru Yamada
   2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
   +81-422-34-3587(tel) / +81-422-34-3516(fax)

   Takashi Tsuda, Toshio Chiba, Atsuo Sasaki
   Aoba, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
   +81-22-217-6538(tel) / +81-22-217-6538(fax)

   Tetsuo Nishimura
   650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, U.S.A.
   +1-808-934-5085(tel) / +1-808-934-5984(fax)

   Presentation Type:
   Oral Presentation

   Keywords:
   Infrared astronomical instrument, near-infrared, infrared camera,
   multi-object spectroscopy, multi-slit mask, cooled optics,
   infrared detector array