MORFEO is a post-focal adaptive optics module that forms part of the first light instrument suite for the Extreme Large Telescope (ELT). The project is now in the Final Design Phase. In this paper, we report the status of the project.
With sub-microarcsecond angular accuracy, the Theia telescope will be capable of revealing the architectures of nearby exoplanetary systems down to the mass of Earth. This research addresses the challenges inherent in space astrometry missions, focusing on focal plane calibration and telescope optical distortion. We propose to assess the future feasibility of large-format detectors (50 to 200 megapixels) in a controlled laboratory environment. The aim is to improve the architecture of the focal plane while ensuring that specifications are met. The use of field stars as metrological sources for calibrating the optical distortion of the field may help to constrain telescope stability. The paper concludes with an attempt to confirm in the laboratory the performance predicted by simulations. We will also address the possibility of using such techniques with a dedicated instrument for the Habitable World Observatory.
HARMONI is the first light visible and near-IR integral field spectrograph for the ELT. It covers a large spectral range from 450 nm to 2450 nm with resolving powers from 3500 to 18000 and spatial sampling from 60 mas to 4 mas. It can operate in two Adaptive Optics modes - SCAO (including a High Contrast capability) and LTAO - or with NOAO. The project is preparing for Final Design Reviews. HARMONI is a work-horse instrument that provides efficient, spatially resolved spectroscopy of extended objects or crowded fields of view. The gigantic leap in sensitivity and spatial resolution that HARMONI at the ELT will enable promises to transform the landscape in observational astrophysics in the coming decade. The project has undergone some key changes to the leadership and management structure over the last two years. We present the salient elements of the project restructuring, and modifications to the technical specifications. The instrument design is very mature in the lead up to the final design review. In this paper, we provide an overview of the instrument's capabilities, details of recent technical changes during the red flag period, and an update of sensitivities.
HARMONI is the first light visible and near-IR integral field spectrograph for the ELT. It covers a large spectral range from 450nm to 2450nm with resolving powers from 3500 to 18000 and spatial sampling from 60mas to 4mas. It can operate in two Adaptive Optics modes - SCAO (including a High Contrast capability) and LTAO - or with NOAO. The project is preparing for Final Design Reviews. The high-contrast module (HCM) has been designed to characterize planets as close as 100mas from their host star (goal: 50mas), and presenting a 1e-6 flux ratio with it. To do so, it will use (1) a passive atmospheric dispersion corrector, (2) a set of amplitude apodizers and focal plane masks to lower the diffracted intensity next to the star and attenuate the PSF core, (3) a dedicated Zernike wavefront sensor to track the non-common path aberrations with the SCAO subsystem at a 0.1Hz frequency, and (4) post-processing algorithms that will rely on the temporal and spectral diversity of the IFS data to separate the planetary signals from the noise. This communication details several trade-off analyses involved in the co-design of the hardware of the HCM. It also presents contrast performance estimates that have been derived through an analysis of post-processed, simulated IFS data obtained with an end-to-end numerical model of the HCM and the rest of HARMONI. The respective interests of ADI and molecular mapping are compared in this specific case.
HARMONI is the first light near-IR integral field spectrograph for the ELT. It covers a large spectral range from 450nm to 2450nm with resolving powers from 3500 to 18000 and spatial sampling from 60mas to 4mas. It can operate in two Adaptive Optics (AO) modes – Single Conjugated AO (SCAO - including a High-Contrast capability) and Laser Tomography AO (LTAO) - or without AO (NOAO). The project is preparing for Final Design Reviews. In addition of the SCAO mode, the instrument includes a high-contrast imaging capability working in H and K band. This sub-system will be essential to spectrally characterize young giant exoplanets with contrast down to 1e-6 and a separation from 0.1 to 0.3 arc second (goal: 0.05-0.3’’) from their host star. It will also be used to characterize young circumstellar disks. The High-Contrast Module (HCM) is based on an apodized pupil coronagraph which lowers the intensity of the diffracted starlight to a planet-star contrast compatible with the dynamic range of the scientific detector. A dedicated Zernike wavefront sensor will internally calibrate non-common path aberrations at a 0.1Hz rate.
ELT-HARMONI is the first light visible and near-IR integral field spectrograph (IFS) for the ELT. It covers a large spectral range from 450nm to 2450nm with resolving powers from 3500 to 18000 and spatial sampling from 60mas to 4mas. It can operate in two Adaptive Optics modes - SCAO (including a High Contrast capability) and LTAO - or with NOAO. The project is preparing for Final Design Reviews.
The High Contrast Module (HCM) will allow HARMONI to perform direct imaging and spectral analysis of exoplanets up to 106 times fainter than their host star. Quasi-static aberrations are a limiting factor and must be calibrated as close as possible to the focal plane masks to reach the specified contrast. A Zernike sensor for Extremely Low-level Differential Aberrations (ZELDA) will be used in real-time and closed-loop operation at 0.1Hz frequency for this purpose. Unlike a Shack-Hartmann, the ZELDA wavefront sensor is sensitive to Island and low-wind effects. The ZELDA sensor has already been tested on VLT-SPHERE1 and will be used in other instruments. Our objective is to adapt this sensor to the specific case of HARMONI.
A ZELDA prototype is being both simulated and experimentally tested at IPAG. Its nanometric precision has first been checked in 2020 in the case of slowly evolving, small wavefront errors, and without dispersion nor turbulence residuals. On this experimental basis, we address the performance of the sensor under realistic operational conditions including residuals, mis-centring, dispersion, sensitivity, etc. Atmospheric refraction residuals were introduced by the use of a prism, and turbulence was introduced by a spatial light modulator which is also used to minimise wavefront residuals in a closed loop in the observing conditions expected with HARMONI.
MORFEO (formerly known as MAORY) is the multi-conjugated adaptive optics module for the ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). It will serve the first light instrument MICADO. We present the current preliminary design of the Instrument Control Software (ICSS) illustrating the most demanding requirements ICSS has to deal with and how we are going to integrate the MORFEO ICSS architecture with the control software framework ESO is developing for new instruments.
HARMONI is the first light, adaptive optics assisted, integral field spectrograph for the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). A work-horse instrument, it provides the ELT’s diffraction limited spectroscopic capability across the near-infrared wavelength range. HARMONI will exploit the ELT’s unique combination of exquisite spatial resolution and enormous collecting area, enabling transformational science. The design of the instrument is being finalized, and the plans for assembly, integration and testing are being detailed. We present an overview of the instrument’s capabilities from a user perspective, and provide a summary of the instrument’s design. We also include recent changes to the project, both technical and programmatic, that have resulted from red-flag actions. Finally, we outline some of the simulated HARMONI observations currently being analyzed.
HARMONI is the adaptive optics assisted, near-infrared and visible light integral field spectrograph for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). A first light instrument, it provides the work-horse spectroscopic capability for the ELT. As the project approaches its Final Design Review milestone, the design of the instrument is being finalized, and the plans for assembly, integration and testing are being detailed. We present an overview of the instrument’s capabilities from a user perspective, provide a summary of the instrument’s design, including plans for operations and calibrations, and provide a brief glimpse of the predicted performance for a specific observing scenario. The paper also provides some details of the consortium composition and its evolution since the project commenced in 2015.
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