NIRSPEC - The Near Infrared Echelle Spectrograph

Principal Investigator: Ian McLean (UCLA)

Reference: 
The Design and Development of NIRSPEC: A Near-Infrared Echelle Spectrograph 
for the Keck II Telescope 
by Ian S. McLean et al.   SPIE vol. 3354 pp. 566-578 

The Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSPEC), a cryogenic cross-dispersed
echelle spectrograph, features spectroscopy over the 0.96-5.5 micron
range at resolutions of R=2000 or 25000.  The slit-viewing camera 
provides additional capability to image fields in a 46"-square field
from 1-2.5 microns.  The software interface includes planning tools for 
users to prepare observational setups and exposure sequences.

Instrument Specifications

Location		RNAS, Keck-2, f/15 input beam

Detectors		Slit-viewing (SCAM): Rockwell HgCdTe, 0.18"/pixel,
					read noise = 10 e-,
					Linear limit = 120000 e-,
					46" square field,
					0.95-2.5 microns wavelength range

			Spectrograph: ALADDIN InSb 1024x1024, 27 micron pixels,
					dark current = 0.2 e-/s/pixel,
					read noise = 25 e- RMS,
					Linear limit = 100000 e-,
					0.95-5.5 microns wavelength range

Filter Bandpasses:
 Name			Wavelength Range (microns)
 Nirspec-1		0.947-1.121
 Nirspec-2 		1.089-1.293
 Nirspec-3 (J) 		1.143-1.375
 Nirspec-4 		1.241-1.593    These filters are all
 Nirspec-5 (H)		1.413-1.808
 Nirspec-6 		1.558-2.315
 Nirspec-7 		1.839-2.630    in Filter Wheel No. 2
 Br-Gamma 		2.155-2.175
 CO			2.228-2.305
 K 			1.996-2.382
 K-Prime 		1.950-2.295
- - - - -               - - - - - -    ------------------------------
 L-Prime		3.420-4.120
 M-Prime		4.570-4.810
 KL 			2.134-4.228    These filters are all
 HeI 			1.078-1.088
 Pa-Beta 		1.276-1.289
 H2 			2.110-2.129    in Filter Wheel No. 1
 FeII 			1.639-1.654
 M-Wide 		4.420-5.530

Spectroscopy:		Low resolution: R=2000 (150 km/s), 3-pixel slit (0.43")
			High resolution: R=25000 (3-pixel slit (0.43")

Slit Complement:	0.144"x12 
   			0.288"x12 
   			0.432"x12 
  			0.576"x12 
  			0.720"x12 
   			Blank 
  			0.432"x24 
   			0.576"x24 
   			0.720"x24 
  			42x0.380" (low res)
  			42x0.570" (low res)
  			42x0.760" (low res)

Guider:			1024x1024 PXL, R-band, annular diameter 1-3.5',
			7.5 arcmin^2 coverage.
			Guiding also available on SCAM.

Optics:			Spectrograph optics all reflecting, diamond-machined,
 			post-polished, Al/Ni-Al substrates, 
			silver or gold coated.

Cryogenics:		Full vacuum enclosure, CCR continuous cooling to 60 K
			(30 K for the ALADDIN).
			All cryogenic mechanisms, including image derotator
			to fix sky PA on slit.		

Electronics:		Transputer-based architecture.			

User Interface:		DataViews (control) and IDL (quicklook, image rotator
			control, and echelle format simulator).

Performance:		SCAM image quality FWHM 0.3-0.55" typical.
			SCAM J-band zero point: 24.7 mag @ 1 DN/s.
			Other sensitivity TBD.

Additional Information:
 WWW sites: 
 http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/realpublic/inst/nirspec/nirspec.htm
 http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~irlab/nirspec/
 CARA contact: G. Hill (ghill@keck.hawaii.edu)