Related papers: MICADO: first light imager for the E-ELT

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…

We present a discussion of the design issues and trade-offs that have been considered in putting together a new concept for MOSAIC, the multi-object spectrograph for the E-ELT. MOSAIC aims to address the combined science cases for E-ELT MOS…

The Magellan Adaptive Secondary AO system, scheduled for first light in the fall of 2011, will be able to simultaneously perform diffraction limited AO science in both the mid-IR, using the BLINC/MIRAC4 10\{mu}m camera, and in the visible…

In the last few years, new Adaptive Optics [AO] techniques have emerged to answer new astronomical challenges: Ground-Layer AO [GLAO] and Multi-Conjugate AO [MCAO] to access a wider Field of View [FoV], Multi-Object AO [MOAO] for the…

The EAGLE instrument for the E-ELT is a multi-IFU spectrograph, that uses a MOAO system for wavefront correction of interesting lines of sight. We present a Monte-Carlo AO simulation package that has been used to model the performace of…

The next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT), with diameters up to 39 meters, will start opera- tion in the next decade and promises new challenges in the development of instruments. The growing field of astrophotonics (the use…

The workhorse instruments of the 8-10m class observatories have become their multi-object spectrographs (MOS), providing comprehensive follow-up to both ground-based and space-borne imaging. With the advent of deeper imaging surveys from,…

METIS is one of the three first-light instruments planned for the ELT, mainly dedicated to high contrast imaging in the mid-infrared. On the SPHERE high-contrast instrument currently installed at the VLT, we observe that one of the main…

The ELTI concept capitalizes on recent breakthroughs in large-format SPAD (Single-Photon Avalanche Diode) imaging sensors, combining them with the unprecedented collecting area and segmented architecture of the ELT to deliver a…

HARMONI is a visible and NIR integral field spectrograph, providing the E-ELT's core spectroscopic capability at first light. HARMONI will work at the diffraction limit of the E-ELT, thanks to a Classical and a Laser Tomographic AO system.…

The next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), with their wide apertures and advanced Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) systems, will provide unprecedented sharp and deep observations, even surpassing the capabilities of…

With the aim of paving the road for future accurate astrometry with MICADO at the European-ELT, we performed an astrometric study using two different but complementary approaches to investigate two critical components that contribute to the…

In this paper, we present a first comparison of different Adaptive Optics (AO) concepts to reach a given scientific specification for 3D spectroscopy on Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). We consider that a range of 30%-50% of Ensquarred…

The major cornerstone of future ground-based astronomy is imaging and spectroscopy at the diffraction limit using adaptive optics. To exploit the potential of current AO systems, we have begun a survey around bright stars to study…

RISTRETTO is a visible high-resolution spectrograph fed by an extreme adaptive optics (AO) system, to be proposed as a visitor instrument on ESO VLT. The main science goal of RISTRETTO is to pioneer the detection and atmospheric…

There are 8000 galaxies, including 1600 at z larger than 1.6, which could be simultaneously observed in an E-ELT field of view of 40 sq. arcmin. A considerable fraction of astrophysical discoveries require large statistical samples, which…

In the present paper, we consider the optical design of a zoom system for the active refocusing in laser guide star wavefront sensors. The system is designed according to the specifications coming from the Extremely Large Telescope…

Acousto-optical devices, such as modulators, filters or deflectors, implement a simple and effective way of light modulation and signal processing techniques. However, their operation wavelengths are restricted to visible and near-infrared…

We present descriptions of the alignment and calibration tests of the Pathfinder, which achieved first light during our 2013 commissioning campaign at the LBT. The full LINC-NIRVANA instrument is a Fizeau interferometric imager with fringe…

Adaptive optics (AO) instruments for the future extremely large telescopes (ELTs) are characterized by advanced optical systems with diffraction-limited optical quality. Low geometric distortion is also crucial for high accuracy astrometric…