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| IRMOS is a ground-based
low to medium resolution infrared multi-object spectrometer
being built by a team of collaborators from the Space
Telescope Science Institute (STScI),
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC),
and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO).
The instrument will have a 170 X 120 arc second field
of view and 0.2 arc second spatial sampling. A combination
of filters and gratings will give resolutions of R~100
to 4500 for spectroscopy in the J-, H- and
K-bands. Direct imaging will also be available
in these bands.
The instrument's detector is a 1024 X 1024 HgCdTe array
covering the 0.8 to 2.5 um wavelength regime. IRMOS'
unique element is a Digital Micro-Mirror Device or DMD.
The DMD utilizes MEMS (Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems)
technology and features an 848 X 600 array of 17x17
micron square mirrors. These mirrors are digitally accessed
and can be placed into either of two states to create
spectroscopic slits operating in reflection. Typically,
up to 100 slits of various sizes can be formed across
the array.
The instrument will be operated on the Kitt
Peak National Observatory 4 meter and
2.1 meter telescopes. Because of its spectral resolution
and multi-object capability, the instrument will be
ideally suited to study densely populated compact regions
such as Galactic star clusters, star forming regions,
the contents of nearby galaxies and clusters of galaxies
at medium redshifts.
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SPIE Publications
19 Sep 2000 |
Two IRMOS-related SPIE publications by Robert
Winsor et al. are now available from the Publications
page. |
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| This site, as with the IRMOS instrument
itself, is a work in progress. As IRMOS nears completion,
more details will be posted here. |
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