The alignment and assembly of the DESI prime focus corrector

David Brooks; Peter Doel; Robert Besuner; Brenna Flaugher; Giuseppe Gallo; Gaston Gutierrez; Stephen Kent; Michael Lampton; Michael Levi; Ming Liang; Timothy N. Miller; David Sprayberry; Andrew Stefanik

doi:10.1117/12.2232489

9 August 2016 The alignment and assembly of the DESI prime focus corrector

David Brooks, Peter Doel, Robert Besuner, Brenna Flaugher, Giuseppe Gallo, Gaston Gutierrez, Stephen Kent, Michael Lampton, Michael Levi, Ming Liang, Timothy N. Miller, David Sprayberry, Andrew Stefanik

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI; 99088C (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232489
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which is currently under construction, is designed to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 40 million galaxies over 14000 sq deg will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope will deliver light to 5000 fibre optic positioners. The fibres in turn feed ten broad-band spectrographs. The prime focus corrector for DESI consists of six lenses that range in diameter from 0.80 - 1.14 meters and from 83 - 237 kg in weight. The alignment of the large lenses of the optical corrector poses a significant challenge as in order to meet the fibre throughput requirements they have to be aligned to within a tolerance of ~50 micrometres. This paper details the design for the cells that will hold the lenses and the alignment and assembly procedure for the mounting of the lenses into the cells and into the complete barrel assembly. This is based on the experience obtained from the alignment of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) instrument which was successfully assembled and aligned by the same team and we include in the paper the lessons learnt and design modifications that will be implemented on the DESI system.

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David Brooks, Peter Doel, Robert Besuner, Brenna Flaugher, Giuseppe Gallo, Gaston Gutierrez, Stephen Kent, Michael Lampton, Michael Levi, Ming Liang, Timothy N. Miller, David Sprayberry, and Andrew Stefanik "The alignment and assembly of the DESI prime focus corrector", Proc. SPIE 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 99088C (9 August 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232489

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