Development of the Fabry-Perot interferometers for the HIRMES spectrometer on SOFIA

TL;DR

HIRMES is a far-infrared spectrometer on SOFIA that uses eight tunable cryogenic Fabry-Perot Interferometers to achieve high sensitivity and spectral resolution across multiple observational modes.

Contribution

This paper details the design, mechanical and optical characteristics, and control electronics of the innovative tunable cryogenic Fabry-Perot Interferometers used in HIRMES.

Findings

Successful development of eight fully-tunable cryogenic FPIs.

Achieved background-limited sensitivity in multiple modes.

Demonstrated precise control of mirror separation for spectral scanning.

Abstract

HIRMES is a far-infrared spectrometer that was chosen as the third generation instrument for NASA's SOFIA airborne observatory. HIRMES promises background limited performance in four modes that cover the wavelength range between 25 and 122 $\mu$m. The high-spectral resolution ($R \approx 10^5$) mode is matched to achieve maximum sensitivity on velocity-resolved lines to study the evolution of protoplanetary disks. The mid-resolution ($R \approx 12, 000$) mode is suitable for high sensitivity imaging of galactic star formation regions in, for example, the several far-infrared fine structure lines. The low-resolution ($R \approx 2000$) imaging mode is optimized for spectroscopic mapping of far-infrared fine structure lines from nearby galaxies, while the low resolution ($R \approx 600$) grating spectrometer mode is optimized for detecting dust and ice features in protostellar and protoplanetary disks. Several Transition Edge Sensed (TES) bolometer arrays will provide background limited sensitivity in each of these modes. To optimize performance in the various instrument modes, HIRMES employs eight unique fully-tunable cryogenic Fabry-Perot Interferometers (FPIs) and a grating spectrometer. Here we present the design requirements and the mechanical and optical characteristics and performance of these tunable FPI as well as the control electronics that sets the mirror separation and allows scanning of the FPIs.