This week started off with the arrival of Matthijs and Elena; welcome (back) to Chile!
New Optics
More optical adjustments and alignments on the MagAO-X bench were led by Katie and Laird to prepare for a new dual-band observing mode. The goals today were to prepare alignment targets, install a new beamsplitter cube, and to install a new filter in the telescope simulator laser enclosure.
The new beamsplitter that was installed has a dichroic cutoff to split between r and i bands, which DOUBLES the throughput efficiency for dual-band imaging between i/r and z/r compared to the 50/50 beamsplitter.
To test this mode, the output of the super-continuum white light laser was modified. A new shortpass filter with a longer cutoff wavelength was installed inside the laser box, which meant an evacuation of the clean room so Katie and Laird could work with proper safety precautions and minimal distractions. This turned into quite the ordeal–re-aligning the single-mode fiber became a tour de force, draining the rest of the two’s energy. Before the end of the day, though, we were treated with this view:
and with the exciting demonstration of the mode by Laird
Here we have z-band (0.7-1.0 um) on camsci1 and r-band (~0.6-0.7 um) on camsci2. So all science photons from 0.6 to 1.0 um are now being detected, which is roughly 400% more photons than before the RI cube.
My new favorite mode for MagAO-X.
— Laird Close
Other News
Jared and I finished the implementation of the polarimeter’s HWP stage into the MagAO-X software system, including a pupil-tracking mode. In addition, we attached external trigger cables for the two science cameras in preparation for hardware synchronization. Joseph continued his work on COC and preparing hard drives for the run. Parker continued implementation of the device application for his accelerometer controller.
Song of the Day
Fact of the Day
Orlando, Florida is further west than all of South America.
