Overview of UIST

UIST will provide the following capabilites:

• imaging at high angular resolution : 0.12"(0.06") over a 2'x2'; (1'x1') field
• long (120") slit spectroscopy with angular resolutions as high as 0.24" and resolving powers as high as 2000-5000 at 1-5um.
• integral field spectroscopy over a roughly 3.3" x 6.8" field with an angular resolution of 0.24"
• imaging polarimetry and spectropolarimetry with a field of view of 20"
• cross-dispersed spectroscopy with R ~2000 and a 10"-20" slit, with 0.24" resolution will become available after the UIST delivery.

UIST is intended to replace all the capabilities of the existing near infrared instruments on UKIRT, Cooled Grating Spectrometer 4 (CGS4) and IRCAM, with the exception of echelle spectroscopy, which will continue with CGS4. In addition to the increased sensitivity for point-like sources, the following new facilities will be provided:

• the capability to switch rapidly between imaging and spectroscopic modes, which is important for acquiring faint objects for spectroscopy
• the ability to obtain spectra over a wide wavelength range using cross-dispersion
• the capability to perform spectroscopy over a contiguous 2-dimensional region of sky, via the integral field unit (IFU, or image-slicer)

More information is contained in these links:

• a brief description of the instrument
• details of the proposed filters for imaging
• details of the spectroscopic modes
• the UIST image slicer
• predicted sensitivities (link leads to JAC pages)
• the UIST array and controller
• UIST and the ORAC software system

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