Optical design for an Infrared Multi-Object Spectrometer (IRMOS)

The optical design for an Infrared Multiple Object Spectrometer (IRMOS) intended for Astronomical research is presented. To accomplish spectroscopy of multiple objects simultaneous, IRMOS utilizes a Micro-Minor array (MMA) as an electronically controlled slit device. This approach makes object selection simple and offers great versatility for performing spectral analysis on many objects within a field location. Furthermore, it allows a field location to be imaged without spectra prior to object selection. The optical design of IRMOS has two distinct stages. The first stage reduces an f/15 incoming beam to f/4.6, with a tilted focal plane located at the MMA (the MMA removes some of the tilt of the focal plane, since the micro-mirrors tilt individually). The second stage consists of the spectrometer, capable of resolutions of 300, 1000, and 3000 in the astronomical J, H and K bands. This stage transforms the tilted focal plane into a collimated pupil on a grating, and then re-images onto a HAWAII detector. When used with the Kitt Peak National Observatory 4 meter telescope, a plate scale of similar to0.2 arcseconds per pixel is realized at both the MMA and the detector. A total of 6 mirrors are used, two flat fold mirrors, two off-axis concave aspheres, one off-axis convex asphere, and one off-axis concave biconic mirror. The selection of a biconic surface in this design helped reduce the overall size of the instrument by reducing the size and number of necessary mirrors, simplifying alignment.