| Type |
Conference Paper |
| Names |
D. A. H. Buckley, S. I. Barnes, E. B. Burgh, S. Crawford, P. L. Cottrell, A. Kniazev, K. H. Nordsieck, D. O'Donoghue, N. Rangwala, R. Zánmar Sánchez, R. M. Sharples, A. I. Sheinis, P. Väisänen, T. B. Williams |
| Conference Name |
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series |
| Volume |
7014 |
| Pages |
6 |
| Date |
August 1, 2008 |
| URL |
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008SPIE.7014E...6B |
| Library Catalog |
NASA ADS |
| Abstract |
The Southern African Large Telescope is nearing the end of its
commissioning phase and scientific performance verification programmes
began in 2006 with two of its First Generation UV-visible instruments,
the imaging camera, SALTICAM, and the multi-mode Robert Stobie
Spectrograph (RSS). Both instruments are seeing limited and designed to
operate in the UV-visible region (320 - 900 nm). This paper reviews the
innovative aspects of the designs of these instruments and discusses the
commissioning experience to date, illustrated by some initial scientific
commissioning results. These include long-slit and multi-object
spectroscopy, spectropolarimetry, Fabry-Perot imaging spectroscopy and
high-speed photometry. Early spectroscopic commissioning results
uncovered a serious underperformance in the throughput of RSS,
particularly at wavelengths < 400nm. We discuss the lengthy diagnosis
and eventual removal of this problem, which was traced to a material
incompatibility issue involving index-matching optical coupling fluid.
Finally, we briefly discuss the present status of the third and final
First Generation instrument, a vacuum enclosed fibre-fed high
resolution, dual beam, white pupil echelle spectrograph, SALT HRS,
currently under construction. |