Introduction to Visible and NIR Spectrograph Design and Development for Astronomy

Level: Introductory Length: 7 hours Format: In-Person Lecture Intended Audience: The material presented in this course is intended for anyone who is developing an astronomical spectrograph or who wants to understand the various constraints, trade-offs and system-level decisions that go into the design of a visible/NIR spectrograph in order to optimize for performance. This course is ideal for engineers, and graduate students who will be part of an astronomical-spectrograph development team or as a first course for an astronomer or scientist to begin developing the knowledge base required to PI a spectrograph. Description: This course provides attendees with an introduction to aerial spectrograph design and development for astronomy. The course covers the optical fundamentals that constrain spectrograph design; various components that make up a spectrograph for astronomy; and the various system configurations for different applications along with the associated performance analysis. The course includes several design examples including a group-based design project whose goals are to develop a first-order spectrograph design given a set of astronomical constraints and then to determine the specific design parameters for each component that would be given to a lens designer to complete a detailed design. Specific concepts to be addressed include: image quality, throughput, flexure, performance modeling and system testing. Learning Outcomes: This course will enable you to: - discuss various component and end-to-end tests for your spectrograph - construct different first-order design configurations that achieve a desired resolution and field-of-view - specify optical component requirements for design optimization by the optical designer (i.e. focal length, FOV, aperture diameter, image qulity, F/#, etc.) - identify the fundamental optical and mechanical principles that affect spectrograph performance - compare the relative merits of different component designs Instructor(s): Andrew I. Sheinis is the Director of MSE Programs at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope. MSE is the new massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility that will replace the CFHT telescope. This will likely be the first astronomical facility of its size to reuse a site and facility as it will retain the same site location, building size, and footprint. Previously Dr. Sheinis was Interim Executive Director at CFHT and Director of Engineering at CFHT. Dr. Sheinis has over 30 years of experience in optical and NIR technology for astronomical, defense, and medical applications, over 100 publications, 7 US patents, and has developed instruments for Keck, Gemini, AAO, and SALT. He earned a Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California in Santa Cruz and is a Fellow of the Astronomical Society of Australia. Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024 Course Held: 18 June 2024