Design and Construction of the Fibre System for FMOS

摘要

A consortium of Japanese, Australian and UK groups has developed a fibre-fed near IR (J & H band) multi-object spectrographic facility (FMOS) for the Subaru telescope. In this second-generation instrument, a novel prime focus 400-fibre multi-object positioning system, ECHIDNA, is optically linked via twin cables to dual IR spectrographs. The spectrographs are located some distance away, on a dedicated platform two levels above Nasmyth. The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation at Durham University oversaw the design and construction of the optical fibre system linking ECHIDNA to the spectrographs. A modularised connector within the cable scheme and an integral back illumination unit additionally featured as part of the Durham work-package. At the time of writing (mid 2008) FMOS, including the fibre system, is installed and functional on-telescope, with commissioning currently underway. This paper provides an overview of the design and construction of the optical fibre system.