Paper
24 September 2012 SPHERE-IRDIS assembly, integration and testing: from bits and metal to a planet-hunting machine
Fabrice Madec, Kjetil Dohlen, Patrick Blanchard, Michael Carle, Alain Origné, Marc Jaquet, David Le Mignant, Rudy Barette, Gabriel Moreaux, Gilles Arthaud, Didier Ferrand, Jean-Claude Blanc, Patrick Vors, Franck Ducret, Laurence Gluck, Michel Saisse, Christophe Fabron, Philippe Laurent, Jean-Antoine Benedetti, William Bon, Marc Llored, Claire Moutou, Cécile Gry, Jean-Charles Meunier, Arthur Vigan, Lucien Hill, Maud P. Langlois, Jean-Louis Lizon, Vianak Naranjo, Roland Brast, Markus Feldt, Dan Popovic
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
SPHERE, a second-generation instrument for the VLT, is currently under performance validation before shipping to Chile. The IRDIS sub-system, an Infra-Red Dual-Imager and Spectrograph, was integrated on the SPHERE bench last December, and this paper tells the story of the 12 months preceding this milestone: the Assembly, integration and Tests (AIT) performed at Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM). Key points of the AIT strategy are then presented, and the successes and failures---human, technical, and managerial---of this adventure are discussed. We also report on the excellent optical quality achieved, paramount to guarantee ultimate performance of the SPHERE instrument, thanks to high-quality optical manufacture and a successfully applied alignment strategy.
© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Fabrice Madec, Kjetil Dohlen, Patrick Blanchard, Michael Carle, Alain Origné, Marc Jaquet, David Le Mignant, Rudy Barette, Gabriel Moreaux, Gilles Arthaud, Didier Ferrand, Jean-Claude Blanc, Patrick Vors, Franck Ducret, Laurence Gluck, Michel Saisse, Christophe Fabron, Philippe Laurent, Jean-Antoine Benedetti, William Bon, Marc Llored, Claire Moutou, Cécile Gry, Jean-Charles Meunier, Arthur Vigan, Lucien Hill, Maud P. Langlois, Jean-Louis Lizon, Vianak Naranjo, Roland Brast, Markus Feldt, and Dan Popovic "SPHERE-IRDIS assembly, integration and testing: from bits and metal to a planet-hunting machine", Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 844698 (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926897
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KEYWORDS
Sensors

Optical spheres

Optical benches

Optical alignment

Mirrors

Optical filters

Wavefronts

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