The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)
The Optical Corrector for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
- Timothy N. Miller,
- Peter Doel,
- Gaston Gutierrez,
- Robert Besuner,
- David Brooks,
- Giuseppe Gallo,
- Henry Heetderks,
- Patrick Jelinsky,
- Stephen M. Kent,
- Michael Lampton,
- Michael E. Levi,
- Ming Liang,
- Aaron Meisner,
- Michael J. Sholl,
- Joseph Harry Silber,
- David Sprayberry,
- Jessica Nicole Aguilar,
- Axel de la Macorra,
- Daniel Eisenstein,
- Kevin Fanning,
- Andreu Font-Ribera,
- Enrique Gaztañaga,
- Satya Gontcho A Gontcho,
- Klaus Honscheid,
- Jorge Jimenez,
- Dick Joyce,
- Robert Kehoe,
- Theodore Kisner,
- Anthony Kremin,
- Martin Landriau,
- Laurent Le Guillou,
- Christophe Magneville,
- Paul Martini,
- Ramon Miquel,
- John Moustakas,
- Jundan Nie,
- Will Percival,
- Claire Poppett,
- Francisco Prada,
- Graziano Rossi,
- David Schlegel,
- Michael Schubnell,
- Hee-Jong Seo,
- Ray Sharples,
- Gregory Tarlé,
- Mariana Vargas-Magaña,
- Zhimin Zhou,
- the DESI Collaboration
Affiliations
- Timothy N. Miller
- ORCiD
- University of California , Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- Peter Doel
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- Gaston Gutierrez
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
- Robert Besuner
- University of California , Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- David Brooks
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- Giuseppe Gallo
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
- Henry Heetderks
- University of California , Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- Patrick Jelinsky
- University of California , Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- Stephen M. Kent
- ORCiD
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
- Michael Lampton
- University of California , Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- Michael E. Levi
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Ming Liang
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Aaron Meisner
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Michael J. Sholl
- Space Exploration Technologies Corp. , 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA 90250, USA
- Joseph Harry Silber
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- David Sprayberry
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Jessica Nicole Aguilar
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Axel de la Macorra
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Cd. de México C.P. 04510, México
- Daniel Eisenstein
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Kevin Fanning
- ORCiD
- The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Andreu Font-Ribera
- ORCiD
- Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
- Enrique Gaztañaga
- Institute of Space Sciences , ICE-CSIC, Campus UAB, Carrer de Can Magrans s/n, 08913 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
- Satya Gontcho A Gontcho
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Klaus Honscheid
- The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Jorge Jimenez
- Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
- Dick Joyce
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Robert Kehoe
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University , 3215 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, TX 75275, USA
- Theodore Kisner
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Anthony Kremin
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Martin Landriau
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Laurent Le Guillou
- ORCiD
- Sorbonne Université , CNRS/IN2P3, Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), FR-75005 Paris, France
- Christophe Magneville
- IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay , F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Paul Martini
- ORCiD
- The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Ramon Miquel
- ORCiD
- Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
- John Moustakas
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Siena College , 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY 12211, USA
- Jundan Nie
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , A20 Datun Road Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100012, People's Republic of China
- Will Percival
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , 200 University Avenue W Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
- Claire Poppett
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Francisco Prada
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC) , Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
- Graziano Rossi
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sejong University , Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea
- David Schlegel
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Michael Schubnell
- University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Hee-Jong Seo
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Ohio University , Athens, OH 45701, USA
- Ray Sharples
- ORCiD
- Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Department of Physics, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
- Gregory Tarlé
- ORCiD
- University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Mariana Vargas-Magaña
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Cd. de México C.P. 04510, México
- Zhimin Zhou
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , A20 Datun Road Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100012, People's Republic of China
- the DESI Collaboration
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad45fe
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 168,
no. 2
p. 95
Abstract
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is currently measuring the spectra of 40 million galaxies and quasars, the largest such survey ever made to probe the nature of cosmological dark energy. The 4 m Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory has been adapted for DESI, including the construction of a 3.°2 diameter prime focus corrector that focuses astronomical light onto a 0.8 m diameter focal surface with excellent image quality over the DESI bandpass of 360–980 nm. The wide-field corrector includes six lenses, as large as 1.1 m in diameter and as heavy as 237 kilograms, including two counterrotating wedged lenses that correct for atmospheric dispersion over zenith angles from 0° to 60°. The lenses, cells, and barrel assembly all meet precise alignment tolerances on the order of tens of microns. The barrel alignment is maintained throughout a range of observing angles and temperature excursions in the Mayall dome by use of a hexapod, which is itself supported by a new cage, ring, and truss structure. In this paper we describe the design, fabrication, and performance of the new corrector and associated structure, focusing on how they meet DESI requirements. In particular, we describe the prescription and specifications of the lenses, design choices and error budgeting of the barrel assembly, stray light mitigations, and integration and test at the Mayall telescope. We conclude with some validation highlights that demonstrate the successful corrector on-sky performance, and we list some lessons learned during the multiyear fabrication phase.
Keywords
- Dark energy
- Astronomical instrumentation
- Optical telescopes
- Wide-field telescopes
- Lenses
- Prime focus
