The Hector Instrument: Performance of the Hector fibre integral field units

摘要

Hector is a new generation multi-object Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) instrument that will utilise high-performance fibre integral field units called 'hexabundles'. We will present the performance of the hexabundles based on the focal ratio degradation (FRD) and throughput results. Hector is planned to be using these hexabundles on-sky by early 2021 to carry out one of the world largest IFS galaxy surveys at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). Hexabundles are developed in the AAO-USydney labs at the University of Sydney. They contain 37 to 169 multi-mode fibres per device and cover up to 26 arcseconds across each galaxy with a spectrum at each fibre position. For astronomical instruments, optical fibres give significant flexibility in configuring a focal plane, but FRD can affect the performance of the fibres and directly influence the efficiency of any galaxy survey observed. Novel techniques used in glass fibre processing have enabled hexabundles optimal performance with minimal FRD. In this paper, we display the optimisation of the Hexabundle design and the FRD performance of the units.