KSPEC:
K-band Spectrograph
Description
The University of Hawaii (UH) K-band spectrograph (KSPEC) utilizes a
cross-dispersed echelle design
to provide medium-resolution spectra of the 0.8--2.5 micron region, optimized
for 2.2 microns. The instrument uses two arrays, a HAWAII 1024x1024
array as the
detector for the spectral information, and a 256x256 NICMOS
array as a slit-viewing array
which images the region of the sky surrounding the slit. The control software
runs on a unix workstation and is similar to the
QUIRC camera.
The KSPEC dewar has two liquid nitrogen reservoirs-- one large capacity
(4.92 liter) which
cools the radiation shields, central cold plate, optics, and imaging detector,
and one smaller (2.46 liter) reservoir which is thermally connected to only the
spectral array.
The hold time for the large reservoir is approximately 17
hours; the hold time for the smaller one is several days because of the low
heat load. The dewar contains no moving parts, other than the externally
mounted shutter. The electronics consists of separate driver boards,
preamps, and A/D boards for the two arrays, and a Leach DSP controller that
clocks the arrays and provides the data link to the workstation.
Documentation, technical papers
- The KSPEC
manual,
in postscript form. A
PDF version is
also available. Last update: 1996 May 21
Papers
The following paper should be referenced in papers including KSPEC2 data
(with the 1024x1024 array):
- "The HAWAII Infrared Detector Arrays: Testing and Astronomical
Characterization of Prototype and Science Grade Devices",
Hodapp, K.-W., Hora, J. L., Hall, D. N. B., Cowie, L. L., Metzger, M.,
Irwin, E., Vural, K., Kozlowski, L. J., Cabelli, S. A., Chen, C. Y., Cooper,
D. E., Bostrup, G. L., Bailey, R. B., & Kleinhans, W. E.
6 November 1996; New Astronomy 1(2): 177-196 (see the
ON-LINE version)
The following paper describes the original KSPEC (with the NICMOS3 arrays):
- ``KSPEC - A Near Infrared Cross-Dispersed Spectrograph'',
Hodapp, K.-W., Hora, J. L., Irwin,
E., and Young, T. 1994, PASP, 106, 87
The following papers describe the HAWAII detector development program:
- "Astronomical Characterization of 1024x1024 HgCdTe HAWAII Detector Arrays"
Hodapp et al. 1995, Proc. SPIE 2475, 8
- Development
report
for the 1024x1024 detector (based on Kozlowski et al. 1995, SPIE 2268, 353)
-
Status report on the array project
(based on Hodapp et al. 1994, SPIE 2198, 668)
Useful Data
- A
startup package for data reduction is available, containing iraf scripts,
sample flat field, mask, and wavelength calibration files. Also included
are some extracted stellar spectra. The files are
packed in a gzipped tar file.
- A
spectral image of an argon calibration lamp, as a 1024 x 1024 pixel
FITS file (2.1 MB).
- A
wavelength-calibrated spectrum of argon, derived from the
above image (FITS-format, 29K).
- Raw
argon calibration data
from Sept. 5, 1995. These were taken at the 88-inch, with exposure times
of 0.1, 1, and 5 seconds, with the 0.56 arcsec slit width. 4.8MB gzipped file.
- Raw
argon calibration data
from Sept. 28, 1995. These were taken at the 88-inch, with exposure times of
5, 10, and 20 seconds, with 4 samples per image. There are six
FITS-format images in this 7.2MB gzipped file.
Back to IfA Homepage
Last modified 1996 December 10
Joseph Hora (hora@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu)