This post shows recent activities for the development of the PFS Spectrograph modules.
PFS project develops 4 identical Spectrograph Modules to obtain 2400 spectra in a singe exposure. Integration of the second and third Spectrograph Modules are on-going at Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in France. As shown in the previous post, almost all units and assemblies had been delivered at LAM by last summer.
Now, the season has changed, LAM team are integrating and testing two modules in parallel. for the second module, two visible camera units, blue and red, were fully assembled, and they passed the functionality tests. LAM started the final integration process with alignment of the fiber slit assembly. At present, two camera units and other optical components have been integrated on the optical bench, and camera dewars are being cooled down and pumped down. We are going to carry out performance tests such as image quality and thermal quality.
The third Spectrograph Module, on the other hand, is being integrated in a dedicated room whose temperature can be controlled. This is to test full assembled module with two visible camera and one near-infrared camera unit, which is integrated at Johns Hopkins University in the USA, under the same room temperature (5 degree Celsius, 41 Fahrenheit) as the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. LAM team have finished installing the optical bench in the room, and will start alignment of the fiber slit soon.
