Commissioning of the IRMOS MEMS spectrometer

摘要

The Infrared Multi-Object Spectrometer employs a novel approach to slit definition by using a rapidly configured array of 848 x 600 MEMS mirrors. Developed by a collaboration between STScI, NASA/GSFC, and KPNO, IRMOS provides low to medium resolution spectroscopy of several tens of simultaneous targets in the Z, J, H, and K bands. IRMOS is presently undergoing commissioning to become a facility instrument at Kitt Peak National Observatory in 2006. We report on the success of this concept, the performance of the Texas Instruments DMD array of MEMS mirrors in this application, and our ongoing software development. Examples of observations using both a "Point and Click" approach to slit positioning and the synthesis of full aperture integral field spectroscopy using Hadamard slit mask patterns are presented.