TITLE:
Optical Spectrometer with Acousto-Optical Dynamic Grating for Guillermo Haro Astrophysical Observatory
AUTHORS:
Alexandre S. Shcherbakov, Adán Omar Arellanes, Vahram Chavushyan
KEYWORDS:
Optical Spectrometer; Acousto-Optical Cell; Dynamic Diffraction Grating; Acousto-Optical Material; Schematic Arrangement; Spectral Resolution; Efficiency of Spectrum Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Vol.3 No.4,
November
11,
2013
ABSTRACT: Optical spectrometer of the Guillermo Haro astrophysical
observatory (Mexico) realizes investigations in the visible and near-infrared
range 350 - 800 nm and exploits mechanically removable traditional static
diffraction gratings as dispersive elements. There is a set of the static
gratings with slit-densities 150 - 600 lines/mm and optical apertures 9 cm × 9 cm
that provide the first order spectral resolution from 0.8 to 3.2 A/pixel, respectively. However, the needed mechanical
manipulations, namely, replacing the static diffraction gratings with various
resolutions and following recalibration of spectrometer within studying even
the same object are practically inconvenient and lead to wasting rather
expensive observation time. We suggest exploiting an acousto-optical cell, i.e. the dynamic diffraction grating
tunable electronically, as dispersive element in that spectrometer. Involving
the acousto-optical technique, which can potentially provide electronic control
over the spectral resolution and the range of observations, leads to
eliminating the abovementioned demerits and improving the
efficiency of analysis.