WST -- Widefield Spectroscopic Telescope: addressing the instrumentation challenges of a new 12m class telescope dedicated to widefield Multi-object and Integral Field Spectroscopy

TL;DR

The paper discusses the design and instrumentation challenges of a proposed 12-meter class telescope, WST, aimed at widefield multi-object and integral field spectroscopy, emphasizing large field of view and high multiplexing.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive overview of the instrumentation design challenges for WST, including fiber positioning, spectrograph design, and mass production considerations.

Findings

Design solutions for high multiplexing spectroscopy

Strategies for cost-effective mass production

Operational sustainability considerations

Abstract

WST - Widefield Spectroscopic Telescope: We summarise the design challenges of instrumentation for a proposed 12m class Telescope that aims to provide a large (>2.5 square degree) field of view and enable simultaneous Multi-object (> 20,000 objects) and Integral Field spectroscopy (inner 3x3 arcminutes field of view), initially at visible wavelengths. For the MOS mode, instrumentation includes the fiber positioning units, fiber runs and the high (R~40,000) and low (R~3,000 - 4,000) resolution spectrographs. For the MUSE like Integral Field Spectrograph, this includes the relay from the Telescope Focal Plane, the multi-stage splitting and slicing and almost 150 identical spectrographs. We highlight the challenge of mass production at a credible cost and the issues of maintenance and sustainable operation.