Update: April 2002

The construction of NIFS is progressing well with preparations in hand for the next two cooldowns.

The detailed design of all the NIFS mechanisms has been completed and the mechanisms are under construction. Construction of the grating turret components has been completed and the turret has been assembled and operated with the Instrument Control System. The focal plane mask wheel is nearing completion. The NIFS OIWFS filter/aperture wheel and OIWFS gimbal mechanism have been manufactured by the University of Hawaii and delivered to the Australian National University. Both these mechanisms have been integrated with the Instrument Control System and are operational. The intention is to test all mechanisms cold in the cryostat in late May. The OIWFS optable has been delivered and final polishing is underway in preparation for this cooldown.

Blanks for all the metal mirror optics have been manufactured and sent away for diamond machining. Delivery of the finished mirrors is expected in mid-May. The camera lenses are under construction in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics optical workshop. The camera housing that will hold these lenses has been manufactured already. The metal grating blanks have been manufactured and the gratings are currently being replicated. All but three of the OIWFS lenses have been delivered.

The HAWAII-2 detector bare MUX is being operated on the bench at room temperature with the SDSU-2 detector controller. The MUX is being controlled with CICADA software, which was developed at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics for use with CCDs. The CICADA code will be ported to the Gemini EPICS environment after initial testing. The detector housing and its support structure have been manufactured and are ready to accept the engineering detector on the second cooldown. This cooldown will also be the first in which the optics are installed in the cryostat, and the first opportunity to test the full optical alignment procedure.

NIFS grating turret with dummy gratings.	The NIFS focal plane unit showing the focal plane wheel drive train.	Vinko Medic polishing the OIWFS optable in preparation for cold-testing the NIFS mechanisms in the cryostat.
The NIFS spectrograph detector housing showing the detector mounting board and socket.	The NIFS environmental cover mechanism under test.	The OIWFS filter/aperture wheel mechanism supplied by the University of Hawaii.
The OIWFS gimbal mirror mechanism supplied by the University of Hawaii.	The OIWFS gimbal mirror mechanism supplied by the University of Hawaii.	First image with the HAWAII-2 MUX showing a lamp filament at bottom-left through a pinhole camera.

Home * Brief Description * NIFS OCDD * NIFS FPRD * CoDR Documentation * CoDR Presentations
CDR Documentation * CDR Presentations * System Design Notes * Manuals * Performance Predictions * Picture Gallery * Publications * Team Members
Employment Opportunities * Monthly Reports * Document Archive * Internal Project Links * Subcontractor Information
Instrumentation Links * Gemini Project Links * Other IR Instruments