• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.55-61
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• 2007

The KASINICS (Korea Astronomy and Space science Institute Near Infrared Camera System) is a ground-based near-infrared (NIR) imaging instrument. KASINICS has offner relay optics to reduce unwanted infrared light. For the offner optics, we adopted an ultra precision machining process which is installed at KBSI (Korea Basics Science research Institute). Since the offner relay optics is made of aluminum 6061 metal material, we did several tests to reach the specification. We found that a 0.497mm radius nose bite and 220m/min machining speed are best tool and condition to make this offner optics with the precision machine. In this paper, we report the technical method of ultra precision machining and results of the KASINICS offner optics.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.43-49
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• 2006

The KASINICS (KASI Near Infrared Camera System) is a ground-based Near-Infrared (NIR) imaging instrument developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). In this paper, we report the test results of the KASINICS camera optics system which is comprised of a 1-1 Offner relay. We measure that the surface RMS fluctuations of the Offner mirrors are at the level of $10^{-1}-10^{-2}$ of the target wavelengths, showing that the mirrors are sufficiently smooth for NIR observations. The alignment of the Offner optics system has been checked too. Our ray-tracing simulations find that the image quality should not degrade more than the pixel size of the KASINICS ($40{\mu}m$), if a de-centering or a tilt of the Offner mirrors are within 5mm, or $2.5^{\circ}$. Our measurement shows that the de-centering or the tilt of the Offner mirrors are less than 1 mm or $0.5^{\circ}$, assuring that the KASINICS image quality are not affected by the alignment errors. We have also measured that the optics resolution is $20{\mu}m$ and it does not degrade more than 10% over the detector surface area of 14.3 mm ${/times}$ 14.3mm. Overall, we conclude that the KASINICS optics system satisfies the design requirements for NIR imaging observations.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.108-115
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• 2017

We report the assembly procedure and performance evaluation of a visible and near-infrared spectrometer in the wavelength region of 400-900 nm, which is later to be combined with fore-optics (a telescope) to form a f/2.5 imaging spectrometer with a field of view of ${\pm}7.68^{\circ}$. The detector at the final image plane is a $640{\times}480$ charge-coupled device with a $24{\mu}m$ pixel size. The spectrometer is in an Offner relay configuration consisting of two concentric, spherical mirrors, the secondary of which is replaced by a convex grating mirror. A double-pass test method with an interferometer is often applied in the assembly process of precision optics, but was excluded from our study due to a large residual wavefront error (WFE) in optical design of 210 nm ($0.35{\lambda}$ at 600 nm) root-mean-square (RMS). This results in a single-path test method with a Shack-Hartmann sensor. The final assembly was tested to have a RMS WFE increase of less than 90 nm over the entire field of view, a keystone of 0.08 pixels, a smile of 1.13 pixels and a spectral resolution of 4.32 nm. During the procedure, we confirmed the validity of using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor to monitor alignment in the assembly of an Offner-like spectrometer.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.39.2-39.2
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• 2010

In this paper, I present the domestic development of near infrared camera systems for the ground telescope and the space satellite. These systems are the first infrared instruments made for astronomical observation in Korea. KASINICS (KASI Near Infrared Camera System) was developed to be installed on the 1.8m telescope of the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO) in Korea. KASINICS is equipped with a $512{\times}512$ InSb array enable L band observations as well as J, H, and Ks bands. The field-of-view of the array is $3.3'{\times}3.3'$ with a resolution of 0.39"/pixel. It employs an Offner relay optical system providing a cold stop to eliminate thermal background emission from the telescope structures. From the test observation, limiting magnitudes are J=17.6, H=17.5, Ks=16.1 and L(narrow)=10.0 mag at a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 in an integration time of 100 s. MIRIS (Multi-purpose InfraRed Imaging System) is the main payload of the STSAT-3 in Korea. MIRIS Space Observation Camera (SOC) covers the observation wavelength from $0.9{\mu}m$ to $2.0{\mu}m$ with a wide field of view $3.67^{\circ}{\times}3.67^{\circ}$. The PICNIC HgCdTe detector in a cold box is cooled down below 100K by a micro Stirling cooler of which cooling capacity is 220mW at 77K. MIRIS SOC adopts passive cooling technique to chill the telescope below 200K by pointing to the deep space (3K). The cooling mechanism employs a radiator, a Winston cone baffle, a thermal shield, MLI of 30 layers, and GFRP pipe support in the system. Opto-mechanical analysis was made in order to estimate and compensate possible stresses from the thermal contraction of mounting parts at cryogenic temperatures. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of mechanical structure was also conducted to ensure safety and stability in launching environments and in orbit. MIRIS SOC will mainly perform the Galactic plane survey with narrow band filters (Pa $\alpha$ and Pa $\alpha$ continuum) and CIB (Cosmic Infrared Background) observation with wide band filters (I and H) driven by a cryogenic stepping motor.