MATISSE selection mechanism development

摘要

MATISSE (Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment) will be a mid-infrared spectro-interferometercombining the beams of up to four telescopes of the European Southern Observatory Very Large TelescopeInterferometer (ESO VLTI), providing phase closure and image reconstruction. MATISSE will produce interferometricspectra in the LM and in the N band (3.0 to 13.0 micron) and is as such a successor of MIDI. Beams pass the warm preopticsand in the cold optics all beams recombine on the detector where they create a spectral interference pattern.Instruments with a large wavelength bandwidth like MATISSE usually comprise mechanisms for selection ofobservation mode, filters, dispersing elements, pinholes or slits. The cryogenic operating environment poses severalchallenges to these cryogenic mechanisms like differential thermal shrinkage, physical property change of materials andlubrication. For the MATISSE instrument two concepts of selection mechanisms can be distinguished: linear selectionmechanisms (sliders) and rotating selection mechanisms (wheels). Both mechanisms provide high accuracy andrepeatability. The feature density is high in a limited space envelope. Cryogenic electric motors are used as the actuatorfor all these mechanisms. This paper describes the design and realization of these linear and rotating selectionmechanisms.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.