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The size and complexity of ground-based astronomy instrumentation is continuously increasing in order to make most efficient use of the existing and new facilities. The logic of this trend is clear, since the high cost of building and maintaining telescopes leads to high demand for their use, maximising the science output is essential. Instrument multiplex and operational modes are therefore ever-increasing. In highly complex instruments, it can be difficult to interpret the meaning of the term “failure” since the loss of individual channels or modes is not the same as a total loss of science capability. In this paper we explore the relationship between the instrument reliability and the delivered science. We also discuss the need to incorporate a good understanding of the reliability in the instrument design. We consider the difference between the inherent availability of the instrument, the operational availability and the scientific output. At the UKATC we have developed a process and set of tools to analyse an instrument design to determine both the inherent and operational availability using a combination of Failure Mode, Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Reliability Diagrams, and Fault Tree Analysis. These can then be considered in terms of the instrument productivity to determine strategies for redundancy, maintenance and repair. We also review the state of reliability analysis within the ground-based community and compare it with the requirements for space astronomical instrumentation. The methodology and tools developed are intended to be compliant with the requirements for space products.

The project NAIR "Novel Astronomical Instrumentation based on photonic light Reformating" is a DFG-funded collaboration to exploit the recognized potential of photonics solutions for a radically new approach to astronomical instrumentation for optical/infrared high precision spectroscopy and high angular resolution imaging. We present a project update, with the developments in our ULI waveguides and 3D printed structures for astronomical instrumentation and on sky testing results obtained at the WHT, Subaru (SCExAO) and LBT. This shows the NAIR project is helping to lead to important technological breakthroughs facilitating uniquely functionality and technical solutions for the next generation of instrumentation.

The Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre has established a comprehensive and versatile vibration measurement capability. In recent years, HAA personnel have executed a number of diverse vibration measurement projects, including recent vibration transmission measurements at Gemini South. In this paper we describe the HAA’s vibration measurement capabilities, including the equipment and experimental approaches that have been used. We will provide some illustrative examples of recent applications and results, and highlight plans for further development of our capabilities., Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII, December 14-18, 2020, Online Only, United States, Series: Proceedings of SPIE

International audience; Due to the increasing number of astronomical projects and of their associated instruments, the request of large optics with higher optical performances does not stop growing. An important step in the manufacture of these optics is the deposition of high-precision optical coatings. To answer to this request, we developed dichroic coatings, with sharp transition for large optics, working at different angles of incidence and spectral ranges. The work done for the dichroic optics of the HRS and LRS instruments for the 4MOST project will be presented.

Astrophotonics is the application of photonics to astronomical instrumentation. This relatively young and rapidly developing Field can play a transformative role in astronomy, offering new functionality, increased efficiency and stability, and allowing traditional large bulk optics instruments to be replaced with miniature scalable modular instruments. Astrophotonics has reached a stage of maturity in which many prototypes and concepts are now being employed in facility instruments, and the field is transitioning from purely research and design to become part of mainstream astronomical instrumentation. As part of this process integrated optical components are playing an increasingly important role, often supplanting the fibre optics used in early prototypes. In this paper we provide a brief review of astrophotonics, paying particular attention to those areas in which silicon photonics can be beneficial, as well as noting the requirements and challenges for silicon astrophotonics.

We present the design, capabilities and applications of a cryogenic test facility for astronomical instrumentation located at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. This facility was designed, built, and commissioned with the purpose to support opto-mechanical performance measurements of cryo-mechanisms for astronomical instruments. In particular, the facility was developed initially to test the opto-mechanical stability and repeatability of the wheel-mechanisms for the ERIS/VLT instrument that are developed in house. However, the facility has a generic application portfolio and can be used for other development projects as well. The unique setup allows optical access from the warm end with short working distance to the cold elements of only a few millimeters. Electrical, mechanical, and liquid feedthroughs provide a flexible infrastructure for a large variety of thermal, mechanical, electrical and optical tests. To provide maximum mechanical stability, the cooling is provided by a low vibration pulse tube cooler that cools the facility down to approximately 8 K.

Astronomical instrumentation development used to be much simpler than it is today. The quest for new discoveries and more light has driven the design and construction of new generations of ever-larger telescopes, which in turn created the need for correspondingly larger and more complex instruments. Large instrument teams composed of scientists and engineers from many technical disciplines have been brought together to design and build these instruments. Engineers trained in these disciplines have become key members of instrument development teams, taking responsibility for these areas of instrument design. With the engineers came an engineering culture and way of thinking that is often at odds with the scientific culture of astronomers. Project management techniques can help organize such an effort, but they have important limitations in a research environment and cannot ensure success. Training in the so-called “soft skills” can improve how a diverse team functions, but this, too, is not the complete answer. Only by immersing the engineer in an observing environment can one hope to overcome the cultural differences and inherent conflicts between scientists and engineers that can cause instrument projects to fail.

The AAO’s TAIPAN instrument is a multi-object fibre positioner and spectrograph installed on the 1.2m UK-Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. The positioner, a prototype for the MANIFEST positioner on the Giant Magellan Telescope, uses independently controlled Starbug robots to position a maximum of 300 optical fibres on a 32cm glass field plate (for a 6 degree field of view), to an accuracy of 5 microns (0.3 arcsec). The Starbug technology allows multi-object spectroscopy to be carried out with a minimum of overhead between observations, significantly decreasing field configuration time. Over the next 5 years the TAIPAN instrument will be used for two southern-hemisphere surveys: Taipan, a spectroscopic survey of 1x10^6 galaxies at z

The LAMOST completed its first five years of operation in June 2017, and 9 million low resolution spectra are obtained. The spectrographs have been upgraded in 2017, and the resolution can reach up to 7500(with 2/3 slit). In the midresolution mode, the wavelength can cover 495nm-535nm(blue band) and 630nm-680nm(red band). The LAMOST will carry out the middle resolution spectroscopic survey in September 2018, and 3 million middle resolution spectra will be obtained. This paper describes the requirements, optical design and mechanical design of the LAMOST-MRS (the LAMOST middle resolution spectrograph).

The author has open-sourced a program for optical modeling of astronomical instrumentation. The code allows for optical systems to be described in a programming language. An optical prescription may contain coordinate systems and transformations, arbitrary polynomial aspheric surfaces and complex volumes. Rather than using a plethora of rays to evaluate performance, all the derivatives along a ray are computed by automatic differentiation. By adaptively controlling the patches around each ray, the system can be modeled to a guaranteed known precision. The code currently consists of less than 10,000 lines of C++/stdlib code.

Controlling stray light through the use of black surfaces is common practice in the design of astronomical instruments and telescopes. While the geometry of the elements that make up the stray light design – baffles, enclosures, masks, etc. – is key, so too are the materials and coatings used to make them. We present a survey of reflective spectra from 250nm to 2500nm of a range of materials used for stray light control, as well as other materials commonly found in instrumentation and telescopes.

We present measurements of the spectral response function of commercially-available Nikon 35mm photographic camera lenses for use in astronomical instrumentation. Our motivation for this work stems from the fact that several astronomical imaging systems have been deployed or proposed using this type of commercial lens. We have performed measurements of the relative and absolute spectral response function of five commercially-available photographic lenses. These measurements show that these lenses generally have >50% throughput across the entire optical window of 400nm < λ < 800nm.

Recently Safran Reosc worked and progressed on various thin film technology for: Large mirrors with low stress and stable coatings. Large lens elements with strong curvature and precise layer specifications. Large filters with high spectral response uniformity specifications. IR coatings with low stress and excellent resistance to cryogenic environment for NIR to LWIR domains. Pixelated coatings. Results will be presented and discussed on the basis of several examples.

Specialized manpower required to efficiently operate world-class observatories requires large investments in time and resources to train personnel in very specific areas of engineering. Isolation and distances to mayor cities pose a challenge to retain motivated and qualified personnel on the mountain. This paper presents strategies that we believe may be effective for retaining this specific know-how in the astronomy field; while at the same time develop a local support industry for observatory operations and astronomical instrumentation development. For this study we choose Chile as a research setting because it will host more than 60% of the world’s ground based astronomical infrastructure by the end of the decade, and because the country has an underdeveloped industry for astronomy services. We identify the astronomical infrastructure that exists in the country as well as the major research groups and industrial players. We further identify the needs of observatories that could be outsourced to the local economy. As a result, we suggest spin-off opportunities that can be started by former observatory employees and therefore retaining the knowhow of experienced people that decide to leave on-site jobs. We also identify tools to facilitate this process such as the creation of a centralized repository of local capabilities and observatory needs, as well as exchange programs within astronomical instrumentation groups. We believe that these strategies will contribute to a positive work environment at the observatories, reduce the operation and development costs, and develop a new industry for the host country.

BATMAN flies is a compact spectro-imager based on MOEMS for generating reconfigurable slit masks, and feeding two arms in parallel. The FOV is 25 x 12 arcmin 2 for a 1m telescope, in infrared (0.85–1.7μm) and 500-1000 spectral resolution. Unique science cases for Space Observation are reachable with this deep spectroscopic multi-survey instrument: deep survey of high-z galaxies down to H=25 on 5 deg 2 with continuum detection and all z>7 candidates at H=26.2 over 5 deg 2 ; deep survey of young stellar clusters in nearby galaxies; deep survey of the Kuiper Belt of ALL known objects down to H=22. Pathfinder towards BATMAN in space is already running with ground-based demonstrators.

Measurements of the polarized radiation often reveal specific physical properties of emission sources, such as strengths and orientations of magnetic fields offered by synchrotron radiation and Zeeman line emission, and the electron density distribution by free-free emission. Polarization-capable, millimeter/sub-millimeter telescopes are normally equipped with either septum polarizers or ortho-mode transducers (OMT) for the detection of polarized radiation. While the septum polarizer is traditionally conceived to be limited to a significantly narrower bandwidth than the OMT, it does possess advantageous features for astronomical polarization measurements unparalleled by the OMT. Challenging the conventional bandwidth limit, we design an extremely wideband circular waveguide septum polarizer, covering $42\%$ bandwidth, from 77 GHz to 118 GHz, without any undesired resonance. Stokes parameters constructed from the measured data in between 77 GHz and 115 GHz show that the leakage from $I$ to $Q$ and $U$ is below $\pm 2\%$ and the $Q-U$ mutual leakage below $\pm 1\%$. Such a performance is comparable to other modern polarizers, but the bandwidth of this polarizer can be at least twice as wide. This extremely wide-band design removes the major weakness of the septum polarizer and opens up a new window for future astronomical polarization measurements.

MEGARA (Multi-Espectrografo en GTC de Alta Resolucion para Astronomia) is an optical Integral-Field Unit and Multi-Object Spectrograph designed for the GTC (Gran Telescopio de Canarias) 10.4m telescope in La Palma. MEGARA project has already passed preliminary design review and the optics critical design review, first-light it is expected to take place at the end of 2016. MEGARA is a development under a GRANTECAN contract. In this paper we summarize the current status of the LN2 open-cycle cryostat which has been designed by the “Astronomical Instrumentation Lab for Millimeter Wavelengths” at the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) and emphasize the key parts of the system that have updated since the Preliminary Design, the main activities related to acceptance, integration, fabrication and maintenance plans which fit into the overall structure of the management plan of MEGARA are also described. The cryogenic work package of MEGARA has completed all the design stages and is ready for its Critical Design Review and then proceed to fabrication.

We present a re-engineered version of the laser frequency comb that has proven a few-cm/s calibration repeatability on the HARPS spectrograph during past campaigns. The new design features even better performance characteristics. The newly arranged oscillator, filter cavities and fiber injection for spectral broadening allow robust long term operation, controlled from a remote site. Its automation features enable easy operation for non-experts. The system is being prepared for installation on the HARPS spectrograph in fall of 2014, and will subsequently become available to the astronomical community.

The CTA (Cherenkov Telescope Array) is the next generation ground-based experiment for very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations. It will integrate several tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) with different apertures into a single astronomical instrument. The US part of the CTA collaboration has proposed and is developing a novel IACT design with a Schwarzschild-Couder (SC) aplanatic two mirror optical system. In comparison with the traditional single mirror Davies-Cotton IACT the SC telescope, by design, can accommodate a wide field-of-view, with significantly improved imaging resolution. In addition, the reduced plate scale of an SC telescope makes it compatible with highly integrated cameras assembled from silicon photo multipliers. In this submission we report on the status of the development of the SC optical system, which is part of the effort to construct a full-scale prototype telescope of this type at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona., In Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). All CTA contributions at arXiv:1307.2232

Next-generation infrared astronomical instrumentation for ground-based and space telescopes could be based on MOEMS programmable slit masks for multi-object spectroscopy (MOS). This astronomical technique is used extensively to investigate the formation and evolution of galaxies. We propose to develop a 2048x1080 DMD-based MOS instrument to be mounted on the Galileo telescope and called BATMAN. A two-arm instrument has been designed for providing in parallel imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. The two arms with F/4 on the DMD are mounted on a common bench, and an upper bench supports the detectors thanks to two independent hexapods. Very good optical quality on the DMD and the detectors will be reached. ROBIN, a BATMAN demonstrator, has been designed, realized and integrated. It permits to determine the instrument integration procedure, including optics and mechanics integration, alignment procedure and optical quality. First images have been obtained and measured. A DMD pattern manager has been developed in order to generate any slit mask according to the list of objects to be observed; spectra have been generated and measured. Observation strategies will be studied and demonstrated for the scientific optimization strategy over the whole FOV. BATMAN on the sky is of prime importance for characterizing the actual performance of this new family of MOS instruments, as well as investigating the operational procedures on astronomical objects. This instrument will be placed on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo at the beginning of next year, in 2014.

We present a preliminary design for a red-sensitive spectrograph. The spectrograph is optimized to operate over the 600- 1000 nm spectral range at a resolution of R = λ/uλ ~2000 and is designed specifically for the 2.7-m Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory. The design is compact and cost effective and should have very high throughput. The principles of the design can be extended to other purposes, such as a unit spectrograph for the DESpec project or other projects that require good performance in the red. In this paper, we will discuss the selection of components as well as the choice of optical layouts and the theoretical throughput of the instrument.

The Imaka project is a ground layer adaptive optics system proposed for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. This paper presents the optical design of a Cassegrain mounted ground layer adaptive optics system with a 0.8 degree field of view for Imaka. The design incorporates a Takeshi concentric ADC and a f/8 to f/5.7 reducer. This is followed with a novel double pass system to image the pupil on a 300mm mildly concave deformable mirror and re-image the system on the detector. The design meets the required 0.15" 80% encircled energy image performance, including correction for atmospheric dispersion. The optical design is presented with the predicted imaging performance. © 2012 SPIE., Adaptive Optics Systems III, July 1-6, 2012, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Series: Proceedings of SPIE; no. 8447

Modern astronomical instrumentation is often developed through non traditional congurations and free form optics. Recent technological development allows the manufacturing of exotic surfaces, sometimes very far away from rotationally symmetric geometries. We propose new developments of the solid telescope concept using multiple re ections between the faces of a single lens. Taking advantage of modern materials and manufacturing solutions, a compact, robust, and easily replicable optical subsystem could represent an optimal solution for small telescopes tailored to specic applications. In this paper we describe the solution for an instrument devoted to the fast transients detection and tracking.

Volume Phase Holographic Gratings are interesting dispersing elements for astronomical instrumentation. An important point, in the realization of the grating, is the choice of the holographic material. Dichromated Gelatines (DCGs) are the best candidate, but they show some drawback especially regarding their water sensitivity and the complex developing process required to enhance their performances. New holographic materials are becoming interesting, such as photopolymers and photochromic materials. An exhaustive review of these classes of materials will be reported and their performances compared to those of DCGs, focusing mainly to the astronomical instrumentation field.

We report on the performances measured at room temperature, before and after a cryogenic cooling cycle, of a set of NIR Volume Phase Holographic Gratings (VPHGs) manufactured at the Miguel Hernandez University (UMH, Elche, Spain) aimed at their use in astronomical instrumentations. VPHGs are novel optical components which can replace standard ruled transmission gratings, offering some advantages. Instead of a surface modulation, a diffraction index modulation printed in a volume of material generates the diffraction according to the required specifications. While VPHGs are becoming an option for instruments working in the optical regime at room temperature, their use is still minimal in the NIR wavebands due to the stringent requirements impose by the cryogenic environment. But their good properties in terms of high transmission and compact mechanical design are kept even in cryogenic, so efforts to develop such devices functional at cryogenic temperatures are underway in several institutions. We report results on transmission of newly manufactured VPHGs. These results were achieved through a collaborative effort within the European network OPTICON WP6, “New Materials and Processes in Astronomical Instrumentation”, and whose participating institutions are Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), Universidad Miguel Hernandez, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (INAF) and Politecnico di Milano.

Volume phase holographic gratings (VPHGs) are dispersing elements widely used in astronomical instrumentation thanks to some unique features (for example, the peak efficiency can reach 95%). The introduction of a slant angle to the fringes allow an increased versatility of these elements. The efficiencies of some samples produced by Kaiser Optical Systems Inc. are reported and discussed. Moreover, some cases of interest in the astronomical field are reported.

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a facility instrument under construction for the 8-m Gemini South telescope. This paper describes the methods used for optical alignment of the adaptive optics (AO) bench. The optical alignment of the off-axis paraboloid mirrors was done using a pre-alignment method utilizing a HeNe laser and alignment telescopes followed by a fine-tuning using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and a shear plate. A FARO arm measuring system was used to place the fiducials for the alignment. Using these methods the AO bench was aligned to 13nm RMS of wavefront error. © 2012 SPIE., Modern Technologies in Space- and Ground-Based Telescopes and Instrumentation II, July 1-6, 2012, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Series: Proceedings of SPIE; no. 8450

We present the experimental results of a 3D photonic component designed for the determination of coherence properties of astronomical targets in optical interferometry. The component is based on the properties of two dimensional arrays of evanescently coupled waveguides and has the potential of being scalable to arbitrary large arrays of telescopes. Simulations and rst experimental results will be presented together with perspectives for implementation of future instruments combining multiple telescopes.

Next-generation astronomical instrumentation for ground-based and space telescopes could use MOEMS devices. Among them, Multi-Object Spectrographs (MOS) are the major instruments for studying primary galaxies and remote and faint objects. A promising solution for the object selection system is the use of MOEMS devices such as micromirror arrays (MMA) which allow the remote control of the multi-slit configuration in real time. We are engaged in a European development of MMA for generating reflective slit masks. Prototypes of MMA with 2048 individually addressable micromirrors made of single-crystal silicon were successfully designed, fabricated and tested. 100×200μm2 micromirrors can be tilted by electrostatic actuation yielding 24° mechanical tilt-angle. The micromirrors were successfully actuated before, during and after cryogenic cooling at 162K. Line-column addressing for individual mirrors has also been demonstrated. We were also engaged in a technical assessment of using a 2048 × 1080 DMD from Texas Instruments for space applications. For a MOS in space, the device should work in vacuum and at low temperature. Our tests reveal that the DMD remains fully operational at -40°C and in vacuum. A 1038 hours life test in space survey conditions, Total Ionizing Dose radiation, thermal cycling and vibrations/shocks have also been successfully completed. These results do not reveal any show-stopper concerning the ability of the DMD to meet environmental space requirements. These developments and tests demonstrate the full ability of this type of components for space instrumentation, especially in multi-object spectroscopy applications.

The Key Technology Network (KTN) within the OPTICON programme has been developing a roadmap for the technology needed to meet the challenges of optical and infrared astronomy over the next few years, with particular emphasis on the requirements of Extremely Large Telescopes. The process and methodology so far will be described, along with the most recent roadmap. The roadmap shows the expected progression of ground-based astronomy facilities and the technological developments which will be required to realise these new facilities. The roadmap highlights the key stages in the development of these technologies. In some areas, such as conventional optics, gradual developments in areas such as light-weighting of optics will slowly be adopted into future instruments. In other areas, such as large area IR detectors, more rapid progress can be expected as new processing techniques allow larger and faster arrays. Finally, other areas such as integrated photonics have the potential to revolutionise astronomical instrumentation. Future plans are outlined, in particular our intention to look at longer term development and disruptive technologies.

Volume phase holographic gratings (VPHGs) are becoming fundamental dispersing elements in astronomical instrumentation. Here it will be described the efficiency behavior of such dispersing elements at high diffraction orders for understanding the possible use as echelle gratings. The efficiency is calculated based on RCWA analysis and different parameters are changed/optimized, i.e film thickness, refractive index modulation and profile. The results show that the VPHGs are not suitable for working at high orders in the classical configurations.

As astronomical instruments have increased in complexity, cost and production time, sharing a major instrument between telescopes has become an attractive alternative to duplication. This requires solving technical and logistical problems of transportation, transferring operational support knowledge between on-site staffs, and developing effective responses to in-service problems at a different site. The infrared camera NEWFIRM has been operated for two years on the 4-m Mayall telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. We have recently temporarily moved it to the 4- m Blanco telescope of Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile for a limited period of operation. We describe here our solutions to the challenges involved in relocating this major in-service cryogenic instrument, with an emphasis on "lessons learned" to date.

The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) features a tunable filter imager (TFI) module covering the wavelength range from 1.5 to 5.0 μm at a resolving power of ~100 over a field of view of 2.2'×2.2'. TFI also features a set of occulting spots and a non-redundant mask for high-contrast imaging. This paper presents the current status of the TFI development. The instrument is currently under its final integration and test phase.

System modeling of space observatories too large for end-to-end ground testing includes assessing levels of unwanted radiant energy on focal plane arrays, commonly called "stray light." The need for stray light analyses parallels the need for large telescope collecting apertures; both seek to maximize sensitivity. Mathematical modeling of stray light is unlike other engineering analyses, and the differences often lead to unfamiliarity and subsequent underrating of its importance. Fortunately, the JWST Project undertook these analyses early enough to guide important aspects of the optical and thermal control designs. Software tools of unprecedented power continue in use to model the stray light performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This paper describes how one such tool is used by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to provide cross-checks of analyses performed by JWST's industry partners. The methods described for JWST are broadly applicable to other astronomical instrumentation.

In this paper we present the cryogenic design of the EMCCD (Electron Multiplication Charged Couple Device) cameras for the Brazilian Tunable Filter Imager instrument for the 4 meters SOAR telescope in Chile. The camera uses a E2V 1600 × 1600 pixels full-frame device, which is controlled by the new CCCP (CCD Controller for Counting Photons), an EMCCD controller developed by the University of Montreal. We present the design of the camera, its thermal analysis and cryogenic performance.

We report on extensive laboratory testing of the optical compatibility of immersion fluids often used in astronomical instrumentation. A strong near-ultraviolet absorption feature is seen after incubating several fluids with polyurethane often used in expansion bladders, and a lesser absorption in the farther UV with Viton O-Ring material. Substitute materials were tested, many of which show no such absorption. This program was started in response to a strong UV feature which developed over time in the Robert Stobie Spectrograph of the Southern African Large Telescope. A repair strategy was successfully implemented.

New multi-core imaging fibre bundles - hexabundles - being developed at the University of Sydney will provide simultaneous integral field spectroscopy for hundreds of celestial sources across a wide angular field. These are a natural progression from the use of single fibres in existing galaxy surveys. Hexabundles will allow us to address fundamental questions in astronomy without the biases introduced by a fixed entrance aperture. We have begun to consider instrument concepts that exploit hundreds of hexabundles over the widest possible field of view. To this end, we have characterised the performance of a 61-core fully fused hexabundle and 5 unfused bundles with 7 cores each. All fibres in bundles have 100 micron cores. In the fused bundle, the cores are distorted from a circular shape in order to achieve a higher fill fraction. The unfused bundles have circular cores and five different cladding thicknesses which affect the fill fraction. We compare the optical performance of all 6 bundles and find that the advantage of smaller interstitial holes (higher fill fraction) is outweighed by the increase in FRD, crosstalk and the poor optical performance caused by the deformation of the fibre cores. Uniformly high throughput and low cross-talk are essential for imaging faint astronomical targets with sufficient resolution to disentangle the dynamical structure. Devices already under development will have 100-200 unfused cores, although larger formats are feasible. The light-weight packaging of hexabundles is sufficiently flexible to allow existing robotic positioners to make use of them.

Charge Coupled Device (CCD) imagers have been widely used in space-borne astronomical instruments. A frequent concern has been the radiation damage effects on the CCD charge transfer properties. We review some methods for assessing the Charge Transfer Inefficiency (CTI) in CCDs. Techniques to minimise degradation using background charge injection and p-channel CCD architectures are discussed. A critical review of the claims for p-channel architectures is presented. The performance advantage for p-channel CCD performance is shown to be lower than claimed previously. Finally we present some projections for the performance in the context of some future ESA missions.

The Astrophysical Technology Group of the INAF-AOT, as part of a consortium led by ESO, has carried out a feasibility study for the Control Software and Electronics of a new generation optical spectrograph, named ESPRESSO. ESPRESSO has been conceived as a high-efficient, high-resolution, fiber-fed spectrograph of high mechanical and thermal stability to be located at the Coude Combined Laboratory of the VLT. These features together with its ability to gather light from 4-UT simultaneously made ESPRESSO a very challenging instrument. This paper presents an overview of the control software and electronics concept design focusing on the more critical and innovative aspects of the spectrograph.

In the last two years the National Observatory at Tonantzintla Puebla, Mexico (OAN Tonantzintla), has been undergoing several facilities upgrades in order to bring to the observatory suitable conditions to operate as a modern Observational Astronomy Teaching Laboratory. In this paper, we present the management, requirement definition and project advances. We made a quantitative diagnosis about of the functionality of the Tonantzintla Observatory (mainly based in the 1m f/15 telescope) to take aim to educational objectives. Through this project we are taking the steps to correct, to actualize and to optimize the observatory astronomical instrumentation according to modern techniques of observation. We present the design and the first actions in order to get a better and efficient use of the main astronomical instrumentation, as well as, the telescope itself, for the undergraduate, postgraduate levels Observacional Astronomy students and outreach publics programs for elementary school. The project includes the development of software and hardware components based in as a common framework for the project management. The Observatory is located at 150 km away from the headquarters at the Instituto de Astronomia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (IAUNAM), and one of the goals is use this infrastructure for a Remote Observatory System.

We survey the current status of the modelling and simulation process and its resulting products in current day groundbased astronomical instrument developments whilst highlighting the areas where improvements can be made. There follows a description of a novel integrated systems approach for modelling, as used by the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) EAGLE instrument team for the development of a Multi-Object Infrared Spectrometer. Also illustrated in this paper is how to use and record the simulation results early in the development cycle of an instrument in such a way as to contribute to the verification of the overall instrument performance.

The next generation of large ground-based optical and infrared telescopes will provide new challenges for designers of astronomical instrumentation. The varied science cases for these extremely large telescopes (ELTs) require a large range of angular resolutions, from near diffraction-limited performance via correction of atmospheric turbulence using adaptive optics (AO), to seeing-limited observations. Moreover, the scientific output of the telescopes must also be optimized with the consideration that, with current technology, AO is relatively ineffective at visible wavelengths, and that atmospheric conditions will often preclude high-performance AO. This paper explores some of the issues that arise when designing ELT instrumentation that operates across a range of angular resolutions and wavelengths. We show that instruments designed for seeing-limited or seeing-enhanced observations have particular challenges in terms of size and mass, while diffraction-limited instruments are not as straightforward as might be imagined., 8 pages, to appear in the SPIE proceedings "ELTs: Which Wavelengths?", from the Lund Symposium on occasion of Arne Ardeberg's retirement

The Lick Observatory has been a pioneer in the development of innovative technology for astronomy particularly the development of adaptive optics and laser guidestar systems. The UCO/Lick Observatory Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (LAO) is actively pursuing development of new device technologies and techniques that will enable the next generation of adaptive optics systems for astronomy. The LAO has been developing, in coordination with industry, MEMS deformable mirrors for high speed high precision wavefront control. In this paper we will present the status of the development process and the goals for the future.

We describe the design and construction of a novel optical ring-polarimeter (RINGO) for the Liverpool Telescope. The instrument is designed for rapid (< 5 minutes) followup observations of Gamma Ray Bursts in order to measure the early time polarization and its evolution for the first time. Sensitivity calculations and data reduction procedures are described, and the results of on-sky commissioning presented. The instrument is now on the telescope and in routine use during GRB followup.

In March 2004 was accepted in the site of Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) in La Palma Island, Spain, the Commissioning Instrument (CI) for the GTC. During the GTC integration phase, the CI will be a diagnostic tool for performance verification. The CI features four operation modes-imaging, pupil imaging, Curvature Wave-front sensing (WFS), and high resolution Shack-Hartmann WFS. This instrument was built by the Instituto de Astronomia UNAM in Mexico City and the Centro de Ingenieria y Desarrollo Industrial (CIDESI) in Queretaro, Qro under a GRANTECAN contract after an international public bid. Some optical components were built by Centro de Investigaciones en Optica (CIO) in Leon Gto and the biggest mechanical parts were manufactured by Vatech in Morelia Mich. In this paper we made a general description of the CI and we relate how this instrument, build under international standards, was entirely made in Mexico.