METIS, a mid-infrared spectrograph, is one the proposed instruments for the 42 m aperture telescope (E-ELT) being developed by ESO. One of the METIS key components is the Cold Chopper (MCC) is a moving mirror that will switch the optical beam between the target (a potential planet) and a nearby reference sky during observation. Both images are compared to eliminate the background signal, in order to detect the very week image of a possible planet.
Because of its importance and its demanding requirements, it is decided to build a demonstrator of this moving mirror which has to operate in an environment with temperatures around 40 Kelvin.
Requirements:
- Mirror dimension: 60 mm diameter
- Tip/tilt range: 8.5 mrad
- Tip/tilt resolution: 1.7 micro radians
- Chop frequency: 0.1-10 Hz
- Switch time: ≤ 5 ms
- Environment: 40 -300 K (vacuum)
- Heat dissipation : < 1 W @ ≤ 80 K
- Life time : > 100 million cycles
For more information please contact: Huub Janssen
Afbeelding:
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