A UV spectrograph for the LAPSUS project

We present an UV spectrograph with an in-vacuum resolution R=λ/Δλ≈20000 covering the 70-400 nm wavelength range with an echelle configuration. The instrument is now in the assembly, test and verification phase, as a milestone of the project LAPSUS (LAboratory Plasma Spectroscopy for Ultraviolet Space) funded to the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics – Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS) by the Italian Space Agency in 2020. The goal of the project is to build an experimental atomic database in the UV spectral range, useful to interpret astrophysical spectra acquired by space missions. For this purpose the LAPSUS spectrograph will be coupled to the plasma traps operating at INFN-LNS, in order to apply high resolution spectroscopy to the emission of laboratory plasmas resembling astrophysical environments.