Correcting Turbulence-induced Errors in Fiber Positioning for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

DESI Collaboration, E. F. Schlafly, J. Guy, K. Honscheid, S. Kent, S. E. Koposov, J. Aguilar, S. Ahlen, S. Bailey, D. Brooks, T. Claybaugh, K. Dawson, P. Doel, K. Fanning, D. P. Finkbeiner, A. Font-Ribera, J. E. Forero-Romero, S. Gontcho A Gontcho, G. Gutierrez, D. KirkbyT. Kisner, A. Kremin, J. Lasker, M. Landriau, L. Le Guillou, M. E. Levi, A. de la Macorra, P. Martini, A. Meisner, R. Miquel, J. Moustakas, G. Niz, F. Prada, G. Rossi, E. Sanchez, M. Schubnell, R. Sharples, D. Sprayberry, G. Tarlé, B. A. Weaver, H. Zou

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Highly multiplexed, robotic, fiber-fed spectroscopic surveys are observing tens of millions of stars and galaxies. For many systems, accurate positioning relies on imaging the fibers in the focal plane and feeding that information back to the robotic positioners to correct their positions. Inhomogeneities and turbulence in the air between the focal plane and the imaging camera can affect the measured positions of fibers, limiting the accuracy with which fibers can be placed on targets. For the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, we dramatically reduced the effect of turbulence on measurements of positioner locations in the focal plane by taking advantage of stationary positioners and the correlation function of the turbulence. We were able to reduce positioning errors from 7.3 to 3.5 μm, speeding the survey by 1.6% under typical conditions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number263
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume168
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Nov 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • instrumentation: spectographs
  • techniques: spectroscopic

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