ESO VISIR Astronomical Filter Consortium

2000 - 2004

Project overview

The VISIR instrument for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a thermal-infrared imager and spectrometer currently being developed by the French Service d'Astrophysique of CEA Saclay, and Dutch NFRA ASTRON Dwingeloo consortium. This cryogenic instrument will employ precision infrared bandpass filters in the N-(λ=7.5-14µm) and Q-(λ=16-28µm) band mid-IR atmospheric windows to study interstellar and circumstellar environments crucial for star and planetary formation theories.

The infrared filters and coatings developed for the VISIR spectrometer and imager have attracted interest from other ground-based observational telescopes requiring filters in the N- and Q-band wavelength regions, namely;

• SUBARU COMICS
• ESO-TIMMI2
• VLTI-MIDI
• W.M. Keck-LWS
• NASA IRTF-MIRLIN
• AURA-Gemini
• TIRCAM
• GTC-CanariCam

All these institutions are members of a consortium set up in 2000 to allow economies of scale in the development, manufacture and purchasing of these filters.

The University of Reading are responsible for the spectral design and fabrication of the N-band (10.3 to 13.1 µm) and Q-band (16.5 - 24.5 µm) filters.

Delivered hardware

Partners

• Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
• Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique
• European Southern Observatory
• Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy
• Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales
• University of Florida, Department of Astronomy

Publications

• G J Hawkins, R Hunneman, R E Sherwood, B M Barrett : "Interference Filters and Coatings for Mid-Infrared Astronomy (8-30µm)", Proc. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, Specialized Optical Developments in Astronomy, 4842-06, pp 43-55 (2002)

Further information

Related links

• VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid Infrared (VISIR)
• Subaru Telescope Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer (COMICS)
• ESO Thermal Infrared Multimode Instrument (TIMMI2)
• MID-infrared Interferometric instrument (MIDI) for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI)
• W.M. Keck Long Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS)
• NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) Mid-InfraRed Large-well Imager (MIRLIN)
• Gemini Observatory
• Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) CanariCam