Figure 3.
Participants of the LGSF
kick-off meeting visit the
Gemini South telescope
facility in Chile.
age to the charge-coupled devices (CCD). By
reproducing one of the “unwanted features”
of the current GMOS-S focal plane array (very
low level pattern removable by dithering) we
have learned how to work around this issue
in the future.
We conducted some of these tests using a
custom printed circuit board that simulated
the CCD’s electrical interface, allowing direct and safe measurement of the signals
at the CCD pins. This also provided faster
testing as we could avoid the thermal cycle
overheads. This “dummy CCD board” will become a new diagnostic tool for operation at
both Gemini North and South.
Once the ARC controller is validated (July
2016), we will mount and align the science
CCDs in the Gemini North Instrumentation
Lab for their acceptance test.
All this work has been done thanks to strong
support from Detector Engineer Luc Boucher, instrumentation specialists John White
and Eduardo Tapia, who all invested a lot of
time and effort to make sure this progress
happened.
We expect to have the complete system ready
for installation in 2016B with actual installation into GMOS-N in early 2017A.
16
GeminiFocus
LGSF Update
Gemini South is procuring a new laser from
the German corporation Toptica Photonics
AG for the Gemini South Multi-conjugate
adaptive optics System. On April 28th three
representatives of Toptica’s Laser Guide Star
Facility (LGSF) upgrade project, and stakeholders from science and engineering operations, attended the kick-off meeting for
Toptica’s SodiumStar 20/2, the company’s
new laser guide star system.
Participants visited Cerro Pachón where
they clarified several technical issues to ensure smooth installation of the new laser
at the Gemini South telescope (Figure 3).
Meeting participants also discussed the delivery schedule and required infrastructure
to receive the new laser. The Toptica Laser is
scheduled to arrive at Cerro Pachón by midNovember 2016 after passing Factory Acceptance Testing, scheduled to take place by
September.
Work packages for the LGSF upgrade project
are progressing and we expect to have received, tested, installed, and commissioned
the new laser by May 2017.
For efficient operations we will install the
Toptica Laser Control Electronics Cabinet
July 2016