Contents

Slitmask Design

What is the minimum slit width I can create?

Slits are milled using an endmill with a diameter of 0.015 inches. We mill slits in two passes: a first rought cut, and a second cleanup cut that removes a section 10% the width of the tool. Hence, the minimum slit width is 0.018 inches on the mask; at the LRIS and DEIMOS telescope focal plane plate scales of 0.727 mm/arcsec, this corresponds to a projected slit width of 0.63 arcsec if the slit is not tilted (i.e., the position angle of the slit project onto the sky matches the postion angle of the mask).

What is the maximum tilt I can use with my slit?

The answer depends on your slit width, according to the formula
	pa_max = acos(0.63/w)*180./pi
where pa_max is the maximum PA of the slit (relative to the mask), and w is the slit width in arcsec. For a slit width of 1.0 arcsec, the slit may be tilted by up to 50° relative to the mask position angle. For a slit width of 0.7 arcsec, the maximum tilt is 26°.

Slitmask Submission

What is the deadline for slitmask submission?

The deadlines for submitting your slitmask designs are the same: four weeks for normal LRIS and DEIMOS slitmasks, and eight weeks for masks with more than 200 slits. Exceptions to the deadline may be granted for valid scientific reasons if a request is made by contacting the director of Science (jomeara@nullkeck.hawaii.edu), before the deadline.

How do I delete a record from the slitmask database?

The masks are no longer deleted from the database, however, they can be marked as ARCHIVED.

The mask design files I submitted had an error and I want to replace them. How do I fix them?

Use the ARCHIVE function to archive the old masks in the database, then submit revised mask files.

The mask system renamed my masks. Why did it do this?

Any newly submitted mask which has a “guiname” that matches an existing mask's guiname will be renamed with a letter or number appended to the end. This is required in order to prevent conflicting masknames, which can cause software issues.

The slitmask database renamed my slitmasks; can you change them?

Unfortunately, no. Once the slitmask information has been ingested, the name is used as a unique identifier of the mask.

What you can do is to ARCHIVE the masks you submitted, change the mask names in your input files, and submit revised mask files.

I tried to submit a mask design file which someone else designed, and the database system rejected the mask do to the incorrect email.

Only registered users of the slitmask database system are permitted to submit slitmask design files. You can either have the other user register, or you can use the fv program as described above to edit the observer email. Then you should be able to submit the file successfully.

How can I know if my mask design is correct?

The mask is checked for formatting and completeness on submission. If the mask is ingested, the mask has the correct format. If you have an error, the mask can be checked using the following: (see sanity-check your slitmasks)

Slitmask Re-use

If I want to re-use old slitmask design files, can I simply resubmit them?

If the mask has the status = ARCHIVED then the best practice is to send the mask to be REMILLED. The use-date can be updated on the re-mill page, and that will let Keck staff know to mill the discarded mask again.

I want to reuse an old mask. How do I know whether the mask is still on the summit?

By default, slitmasks are retained for 6 months past their "Use Date". This is the date you specified in DSIMULATOR when you designed your DEIMOS mask, or the date you entered on the web page when you submitted your LRIS mask. If in doubt, check the LRIS/DEIMOS Slitmask Database and view the record for your mask. If it shows the status = ARCHIVED, the mask will need to be REMILLED. If you plan to re-use a mask you probably want to extend the Use Date past the date of your upcoming run to ensure that it is not discarded; please see the next entry.

Even though my old mask still exists in the database, I want it to be remilled for use on my upcoming run. How do I achieve that?

Slitmask Configuration Requests

Why are my slitmasks not listed in the droplists on the LRIS/DEIMOS run configuration form?

By default, the slitmask droplists on the LRIS/DEIMOS run configuration form list all of the slitmasks which have "use dates" that occur during your run. If you wish to use a mask which has a use date outside of this range, simply do the following:

Slitmask Retention

How long are old slitmasks retained?

We set a mask status to ARCHIVED and discard the mask itself when it is over 6 months past its Use Date as recorded in the database.

How do I know whether my mask has been ARCHIVED?

An email is sent to the mask owner two weeks prior to the date of deletion notifying him or her of the pending mask removal.

I want you to retain my slitmask for future use. How can I make sure it does not get discarded?

To ensure that the mask is retained beyind the standard 6-month retention period, the mask owner must complete the following steps to extend the use date: