Gemini near-infrared integral field spectrograph (NIFS)

Abstract

NIFS is a near-infrared integral field spectrograph designed for near diffraction-limited imaging spectroscopy with the ALTAIR facility adaptive optics system on Gemini North. NIFS is currently under construction at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University. Commissioning is planned for 2003. NIFS uses a reflective concentric integral field unit to reformat its 3.0″×3.0″ field-of-view into 29 slitlets each 0.1″ wide with 0.04″ sampling along each slitlet. The NIFS spectrograph has a resolving power of ∼ 5300, which is large enough to significantly separate terrestrial airglow emission lines and resolve velocity structure in galaxies. The output format is matched to a 2048×2048 pixel Rockwell HAWAII-2 detector. The detector is read out through a SDSU-2 detector controller connected via a VME interface to the Gemini Data Handling System. NIFS is a fast-tracked instrument that reuses many of the designs of the Gemini Near-InfraRed Imager (NIRI); the cryostat, On-Instrument Wave Front Sensor, control system, and control software are largely duplicates.