SALT/PFIS Photographs

PFIS Assembly: Integration

08 March 2005:

We began the tip/flexure test today. Below are pictures of us using the hoist to control the tipping of PFIS on its dolly.

Being tipped over provides good views into the instrument. Below left is the disperser area (with a mass mock-up etalon). Below right is the slitmask mechanism (with a couple of slitmasks loaded in the magazine).

23 February 2005:

The electronics boxes - Power Distribution System (PDS), Satellite Controller Box (SCB), Satellite boxes 1 and 2 (PSC1 and PSC2) - have been strapped onto the structure and the wiring harness completed. Note: The boxes currently do not have their cladding on.

PSC2: From Top Left: SCB, PDS and PSC1: Closeup of PDS with PXI crate:

Here's a nice view of the filter mechanism with the endplate on the magazine off. The first five filters are spectroscopy order-blocking filters. There are also six Fabry-Perot interference filters in the magazine. The final cutoff filter is the 460nm filter, which looks very yellow to the eye, and the first interference filter is the 434nm, which looks blue. So, naturally you see green!

05 January 2005:

We have finished installing and testing the grating mechanism. Below is an image of a grating in place during testing.

29 December 2004:

Mike has begun installing the baffling around the disperser area. Because the camera articulates, the baffling has to move with it. To accomplish this, a baffling screen that can roll up will be attached to each side of the camera.

13 December 2004:

The low- and medium-resolution etalons have arrived and Ted Williams and his graduate student Naseem Rangwala from Rutgers University are visiting for the week to install and test them on PFIS. Below are pictures of the process of installing the low-resolution etalon onto the PFIS structure.

15 November 2004:

The PFIS detector dewar was attached to the camera today. Below left shows the cryotiger hose connections, ion gauge, and vacuum port. Below middle shows the electrical connectors. Below right is a picture taken through the camera at the CCDs.

11 November 2004:

The camera is aligned with the collimator and the grating mechanism and support structure have been attached to the camera cradle. Below right is a movie (1.6Mb) of the camera articulating.

01 November 2004:

With the camera installed we began the alignment process. This was the first time we removed the front cover of the camera and exposed the asphere.

29 October 2004:

Today, the camera and articulation cradle were lifted onto the structure. Pictures of the actual lifting will be forthcoming.

28 October 2004:

We lifted the camera out of its box and onto the cradle. The camera sits on a three-point ball-in-groove kinematic mount. Adjustments to the camera position will be made when we align the camera with the collimator on the structure.

21 September 2004:

Mike installed the etalon mechanism today. The rails, pneumatics, and moving bases (below left) all are fixed to the structure, while the etalon holders (shown below right sans etalons) are removable. There will be three etalons total, with two mounted on the instrument at any time. They may be used in single- (low resolution) or double-etalon (mid or high resolution) modes.

13 September 2004:

With the main collimator group in place, the other optics of the collimator can be installed and aligned. To the left is a view of the field lens/guider mount as seen from below. At right is the fold mirror structure and collimator doublet.

With the optics aligned, we have begun to fix the spacing for the collimator doublet to ensure best colllimation (making sure to put the waveplate compensator in place!). This is done using an autocollimation setup shown below. The slitmask rollers (below left) are put in place and a specialized slitmask frame (below right) allows for a pencil lamp to shine through a pinhole at the focal plane, off an autocollimating mirror after the doublet and back through the collimator to be imaged by a CCD camera. By adjusting the position of the doublet we can look for the smallest return spot.

26 August 2004:

The first installation of the collimator into the structure occurred today. The Main Collimator Group, with a mass of 21 kg (46 pounds), was lifted, via the overhead crane, and lowered into the collimator tube. It bolts down to an invar interface ring (shown in last picture below).

It would later be taken out, a part machined, and reinstalled.

13 August 2004:

We performed a test alignment with the flat mirrors. This allowed us to get a feel for the alignment process before insertion of the collimator optics. We set up crosshairs at the top and bottom of the collimator tube as a crude proxy of the optical axis to which we aligned the scope. We then aligned the double-sided flat. Finally, the fold flat was adjusted until the pupil target was centered in the field.


Mike attaches the fold flat structure.

The fold flat and pupil target.

The alignment scope setup.

10 August 2004:

The structure arrived in Madison last week, so integration of PFIS can begin. Below are pictures of the structure on the dolly.

Mike has attached the slitmask mechanism elevator and magazine to the structure for fit checking. The picture on the left shows the access to the slitmask magazine, the removal of which should not be too difficult. The picture on the right shows the invar interface ring on the bottom of the collimator tube and the elevator at its home position.