AMBER: the near-infrared focal instrument for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer

Romain G. Petrov (1) , Fabien Malbet (2) , Andrea Richichi (3) , Karl-Heinz Hofmann (4) , Denis Mourard (5) , Karim Agabi (6) , Pierre Antonelli , Eric Aristidi (7) , Carlo Baffa (3) , Udo Beckmann (8) , Philippe Berio (6) , Yves Bresson (6) , Frederic Cassaing (9) , Romain G. Petrov (5) , Alain Chelli (10) , Albrecht Dreiss (8) , Michel Dugué (7) , Gilles Duvert (2) , Thierry Forveille (2) , E. Fossat (1) , Sandro Gennari (3) , M. Geng , Andre Glentzlin , Daniel Kamm (7) , Stéphane Lagarde (6) , Etienne Lecoarer (2) , Danielle Lecontel , John Michel Lecontel , Franco Lisi (3) , Bruno Lopez (11) , Gilbert Mars (7) , Gregoire Martinot-Lagarde (12) , Djamel Mékarnia (6) , Jean-Louis Monin (2) , David Mouillet (2) , Christian Perrier-Bellet , Pascal Puget (2) , Yves Rabbia (5) , Sylvestre Rebattu (7) , François Reynaud (13) , Sylvie Robbe-Dubois (5) , Karine Perraut-Rousselet (2) , Michel Sacchettini , Markus Schoeller (14) , Isabelle Tallon-Bosc (15) , Gerd Weigelt (8)

1 LUAN - Laboratoire Universitaire d'Astrophysique de Nice
2 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
3 OAA - INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri
4 Darmstadt University of Technology [Darmstadt]
5 FIZEAU - Laboratoire Hippolyte Fizeau
6 LAGRANGE - Joseph Louis LAGRANGE
7 FRESNEL - Département Fresnel
8 MPIFR - Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
9 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Châtillon]
10 OCA - Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur
11 LG - Laboratoire Gemini
12 GEOAZUR 6526 - Géoazur
13 PHOTONIQUE
14 ESO - European Southern Observatory
15 CRAL - Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon

AMBER is a focal instrument for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer working in the near infrared from 1.1 to 2.4 micrometers . It has been designed having in mind the General User of interferometric observations and the full range of his possible astrophysical programs. However the three programs used to define the key specifications have been the study of Young Stellar Objects, the study of Active Galactic Nuclei dust tori and broad line regions and the measure of masses and spectra of hot Extra Solar Planets. AMBER combines up to three beams produced by the VLTI 8 m Unit Telescopes equipped with Adaptive Optics and/or by the 1.8 m Auxiliary Telescopes. The fringes are dispersed with resolutions ranging from 35 to 10000. It is optimized for high accuracy single mode measurements of the absolute visibility, of the variation of the visibility and phase with wavelength (differential interferometry) and of phase closure relations with three telescopes. The instrument and its software are designed to allow a highly automated user friendly operation and an easy maintenance.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Romain G. Petrov, Fabien Malbet, Andrea Richichi, Karl-Heinz Hofmann, Denis Mourard, et al.. AMBER: the near-infrared focal instrument for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, Mar 2000, Garching, Germany. pp.68, ⟨10.1117/12.390256⟩. ⟨hal-02480068⟩