The Keck Cosmic Web Imager: a capable new integral field spectrograph for the W. M. Keck Observatory

Patrick Morrissey; Mateusz Matuszewski; Chris Martin; Anna Moore; Sean Adkins; Harland Epps; Randy Bartos; Jerry Cabak; Dave Cowley; Jack Davis; Alex Delacroix; Jason Fucik; David Hilliard; Ean James; Steve Kaye; Nicole Lingner; James D. Neill; Christoph Pistor; Drew Phillips; Connie Rockosi; Bob Weber

doi:10.1117/12.924729

24 September 2012 The Keck Cosmic Web Imager: a capable new integral field spectrograph for the W. M. Keck Observatory

Patrick Morrissey, Mateusz Matuszewski, Chris Martin, Anna Moore, Sean Adkins, Harland Epps, Randy Bartos, Jerry Cabak, Dave Cowley, Jack Davis, Alex Delacroix, Jason Fucik, David Hilliard, Ean James, Steve Kaye, Nicole Lingner, James D. Neill, Christoph Pistor, Drew Phillips, Connie Rockosi, Bob Weber

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV; 844613 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.924729
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

The Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) is a new facility instrument being developed for the W. M. Keck Observatory and funded for construction by the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). KCWI is a bench-mounted spectrograph for the Keck II right Nasmyth focal station, providing integral field spectroscopy over a seeing-limited field up to 20"x33" in extent. Selectable Volume Phase Holographic (VPH) gratings provide high efficiency and spectral resolution in the range of 1000 to 20000. The dual-beam design of KCWI passed a Preliminary Design Review in summer 2011. The detailed design of the KCWI blue channel (350 to 700 nm) is now nearly complete, with the red channel (530 to 1050 nm) planned for a phased implementation contingent upon additional funding. KCWI builds on the experience of the Caltech team in implementing the Cosmic Web Imager (CWI), in operation since 2009 at Palomar Observatory. KCWI adds considerable flexibility to the CWI design, and will take full advantage of the excellent seeing and dark sky above Mauna Kea with a selectable nod-and-shuffle observing mode. In this paper, models of the expected KCWI sensitivity and background subtraction capability are presented, along with a detailed description of the instrument design. The KCWI team is lead by Caltech (project management, design and implementation) in partnership with the University of California at Santa Cruz (camera optical and mechanical design) and the W. M. Keck Observatory (program oversight and observatory interfaces).

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Patrick Morrissey, Mateusz Matuszewski, Chris Martin, Anna Moore, Sean Adkins, Harland Epps, Randy Bartos, Jerry Cabak, Dave Cowley, Jack Davis, Alex Delacroix, Jason Fucik, David Hilliard, Ean James, Steve Kaye, Nicole Lingner, James D. Neill, Christoph Pistor, Drew Phillips, Connie Rockosi, and Bob Weber "The Keck Cosmic Web Imager: a capable new integral field spectrograph for the W. M. Keck Observatory", Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 844613 (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.924729

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