Figure 2.
The Gemini South
laser propagating
prior to the
September 2015
earthquake.
GeMS Laser
Progress
Users of the Gemini
Multi-conjugate adaptive optics System
(GeMS) will know that
the GeMS laser has
caused significant issues over the past year,
particularly since the
earthquake of September 2015. Major efforts
finally got us back to a
working system (delivering 30 of its 50 watts,
which is sufficient in
good conditions) by
the time of the February 2016 GeMS run. However, as the current laser (Figure 2) is not robust enough for
regular operations, the process of finding a
replacement system is now well under way.
The National Science Foundation, in partnership with AURA/Gemini, has selected
Toptica Photonics AG to produce a new laser
for GeMS. The new laser will still produce the
constellation of five artificial guide stars on
which GeMS relies to provide excellent and
stable image quality over the Gemini South
Adaptive Optics Imager’s full field-of-view.
We expect the new laser will be significantly
more robust and reliable than the old one,
removing what has been an achilles heel of
GeMS in operation.
Gen 4#3
The Gen 4#3 team has made steady progress
in the past three months on crafting the Request for Proposals (RfP) for this next facility
instrument. In their November 2015 meeting, the Gemini Board requested the Science and Technology Advisory Committee
(STAC) review the outcomes of the Gemini
Instrument Feasibility Studies and work with
22
GeminiFocus
Gemini to identify core
capabilities. The Board
also placed a high
priority on schedule
and cost control. The
STAC met in December
and identified some
expanded core capabilities for the Gen
4#3 instrument (viewable here). They also
highlighted the importance of instrument
throughput and operational efficiency. They
agreed that schedule
is a primary driver
for Gen 4#3, and emphasized that Gemini
should be fully prepared to use Gen 4#3 to
take advantage of early Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) science. We are therefore driving the Gen 4#3 schedule to help
ensure the instrument is commissioned by
the planned start of LSST science operations.
We still anticipate the release of the Gen 4#3
RfP in 2016Q2.
GMOS CCD Issues
While the Hamamatsu CCDs installed in GMOSSouth continue to perform well, the internal
GMOS team encountered a few technical issues in preparing a similar system for GMOSNorth. Specifically, various controller and other electronic components have changed from
the versions used in GMOS-S. As these changes are apparently causing some performance
degradation, we have cancelled the planned
2016Q3 GMOS-N CCD installation. We will
update our web pages as we develop a new
timeline for installation, likely some time in
early 2017.
Additional information can be found on this
webpage.
April 2016