The Low Order Wave Front Subsystem (LOWFS) provides field stabilization and low-order wave front sensing in seeing-limited and LTAO observing modes, measuring the motion of the instrument focal plane relative to the telescope wave front sensors. A new set of requirements have been set for the LOWFS, expecting the micron acquisition and submicron accuracy tracking of two objects in a 400mm technical field, instead of the previous set of requirements requiring just one.
A trade-off process has been conducted to explore different architecture options. This process starts with the selection of the trade-off main criteria and metrics that will drive the decision. Among those metrics there are performance and functionality requirements, impact on cost and schedule, among others. Additionally, weights are allocated for each one of the metrics. Then, brainstorms methods have been applied to analyze the different architectures without any preconcluded assessment on each solution. A preliminary selection of 2 solutions is done and the selected architectures are further developed. Finally, a trade-off matrix is filled by experts to obtain the selected architecture, which is developed further in this paper.
In this paper, we present the state of this study, discuss a new approach with distributed AIT activities and controlled remotely over different sites. We describe AIT/V scenarios with phased implementation, starting with the Front-End and Visible channels AIT phases. We also show our capacity, experience (several MOS instruments, ELT HARMONI) and expertise to lead the instrument MOSAIC AIT/V activities both in Europe and at the telescope in Chile.
In this paper, we present the design and prototyping of the HARMONI Adaptive Optics Calibration Unit (AOCU). The AOCU consists of a set of on-axis sources (covering 0.5-2.4 μm) with a controllable wavefront shape. It will deploy into the instrument focal plane to inject calibration light into the rest of the system. The AOCU supports all-natural guide-star wavefront sensors for SCAO, HCAO, and LTAO.
The AOCU will be used to calibrate the WFSs, the internal interaction matrices of HARMONI, measure and compensate NCPAs between AO dichroics and the science detectors, and calibrate the pointing model zero position. The illumination assembly of the AOCU will consist of six diffraction-limited sources and a resolved source coupled into fibres. Because of the wide range of wavelengths and the spatial separations requirements, we use two endlessly single-mode fibres and a multimode fibre. In addition, several LED sources need to be coupled efficiently into the single-mode fibres. In this paper, we present the general AOCU design using off-the-shelf with a focus on the illumination and source module.ELT-HARMONI is the first light visible and near-IR integral field spectrograph (IFS) for the ELT. It covers a large spectral range from 450nm to 2450nm with resolving powers from 3500 to 18000 and spatial sampling from 60mas to 4mas. It can operate in two Adaptive Optics modes - SCAO (including a High Contrast capability) and LTAO - or with NOAO. The project is preparing for Final Design Reviews.
The High Contrast Module (HCM) will allow HARMONI to perform direct imaging and spectral analysis of exoplanets up to 106 times fainter than their host star. Quasi-static aberrations are a limiting factor and must be calibrated as close as possible to the focal plane masks to reach the specified contrast. A Zernike sensor for Extremely Low-level Differential Aberrations (ZELDA) will be used in real-time and closed-loop operation at 0.1Hz frequency for this purpose. Unlike a Shack-Hartmann, the ZELDA wavefront sensor is sensitive to Island and low-wind effects. The ZELDA sensor has already been tested on VLT-SPHERE1 and will be used in other instruments. Our objective is to adapt this sensor to the specific case of HARMONI.
A ZELDA prototype is being both simulated and experimentally tested at IPAG. Its nanometric precision has first been checked in 2020 in the case of slowly evolving, small wavefront errors, and without dispersion nor turbulence residuals. On this experimental basis, we address the performance of the sensor under realistic operational conditions including residuals, mis-centring, dispersion, sensitivity, etc. Atmospheric refraction residuals were introduced by the use of a prism, and turbulence was introduced by a spatial light modulator which is also used to minimise wavefront residuals in a closed loop in the observing conditions expected with HARMONI.HARMONI is the first light visible and near-IR integral field spectrograph for the ELT. It covers a large spectral range from 450nm to 2450nm with resolving powers from 3500 to 18000 and spatial sampling from 60mas to 4mas. It can operate in two Adaptive Optics modes - SCAO (including a High Contrast capability) and LTAO - or with NOAO. The project is preparing for Final Design Reviews.
The SCAO Sensors subsystem (SCAOS) is located within the Natural Guide Star Sensors (NGSS) system which includes several wavefront sensors (WFS) to cover the needs of the different HARMONI observing modes and operates in a cold, thermally stabilized (+2°C) and dry gas environment for thermal background limitation. To reach the required performance, the SCAOS will use different modules and mechanisms among which, two particularly critical devices have been prototyped and are tested: The SCAOS Pyramid Modulator Unit (SPMU) and the SCAOS Object Selection Mechanism (SOSM). Both devices are tip-tilt mirrors but have very different specifications (amplitude and speed). In this work, we will present and discuss the design, the assembly and the full test (performance, control) of the two systems, in both ambient and cold environments.Wavefront sensors (WFSs) encode phase information of an incoming wavefront into an intensity pattern that can be measured on a camera. Several kinds of WFSs are used in astronomical adaptive optics. Among them, Fourier-based WFSs perform a filtering operation on the wavefront in the focal plane. The most well-known example of a WFS of this kind is the Zernike WFS. The pyramid WFS also belongs to this class. Based on this same principle, WFSs can be proposed, such as the
The first brick is a high-precision accelerometer which could be used in a future space mission as fundamental element for the dynamic control loop of the interferometer.
The second brick is a miniaturized version of an imaging multi-aperture telescope. Ultimately, such an instrument could be composed of numerous space-born mirror segments flying in precise formation on baselines of hundreds or thousands of meters, providing high-resolution glimpses of distant worlds. We are proposing to build a very first space-born demonstrator of such an instrument which will fit into the limited resources of one cubesat.
In this paper, we will describe the detailed design of the cubesat hosting the two payloads.