Open AccessThe immersed echelle ‐‐ I. Basic properties
Author(s) -
Szumski R.,
Walker D. D.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02107.x
Subject(s) - physics , spectrograph , optics , grating , high resolution , astronomy , remote sensing , spectral line , geology
High‐resolution spectrographs for very large telescopes lead to new challenges in grating technology to achieve optimum matching of the slit width to the seeing disc. This has led elsewhere to the development of long echelles of high blaze angle produced by mosaicking technology. An alternative approach, pursued in this paper and adopted for the Gemini High‐Resolution Optical Spectrograph, is to immerse a monolithic echelle in a medium of refractive index greater than unity. This paper explores the consequences of this. It will be followed by Paper II, which will report on a major technology development programme in progress.