The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a 4-m class-solar telescope that will become part of the next generation of groundbased facilities. Located at the “Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos” in La Palma (Spain), it will be aimed to study the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere with high spatial and temporal resolution. The EST optical design has been optimized during the preliminary design phase to maximize throughput, balance the instrumental polarization and to reduce the image rotation due to the change in orientation during operation. The optical system consists of a 4.2m active primary mirror located above the elevation axis to ensure natural air flushing and minimize local seeing degradation and a secondary mirror assembled as an Adaptive Secondary Mirror (ASM). Both arranged in an on-axis Gregorian configuration to deliver an aplanatic secondary focal plane. These are followed by four fold mirrors, which will be upgraded to deformable mirrors and are conjugated to different layers of the atmosphere. These, together with the ASM, M7 and two wavefront sensors, will make up the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics system. Finally, a dioptric system, housed in a vacuum vessel, transfers the light to the science focus, which will be delivered to the Scientific Instrumentation by a dedicated distribution system. EST ultimately provides a diffraction-limited telecentric F/50 science focal plane covering a FOV of 90×90 arcsec2 over a wavelength range from 380nm to 2300nm. Along the contribution, details about the preliminary optical design of EST and its subassemblies will be presented. The expected performance is also discussed.
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 will use an image slicer to provide spectra over a single contiguous area, providing fields of view on the sky of 9.3x6.3”, 4.2x3.1”, 2.1x1.5” and 0.84x0.62” with increasing spatial resolution (i.e.- 60x30, 20x20, 10x10 and 4x4 mas2) and magnification 2, 3/6, 6/12 and 15/30 respectively. The anamorphic magnifications in 20x20, 10x10 and 4x4 scales are implemented using two toroidal mirrors in each optical path. In this paper, we present a complete tolerance analysis for the anamorphic stages and a compensation procedure to ensure the requirements of the system.
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.
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