Optical wavelength image slicer

摘要

The Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) is a high-throughput double-beam image-slicing spectrograph that will operate over the visible wavelength range 320nm to 1000nm. Designed by the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) at Mount Stromlo, WiFeS is based on an Integral Field Unit (IFU) and Volume Phased Holographic (VPH) grating technology. Central to the IFU design is a visible wavelength image slicer. Traditionally, such a slicer has been difficult to realise, due to the requisite high surface quality demanded to reduce scatter from each slice. In this paper, we discuss both the novel design and manufacture of the WiFeS slicer assembly. Preliminary results are presented that clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the design.