Long-term stability of fibre-optic transmission for multi-object spectroscopy

Abstract

We present an analysis of the long-term stability of fibre-optic transmission properties for fibre optics in astronomy. Data from six years of operation of the AAOmega multi-object spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope is presented. We find no evidence for significant degradation in the bulk transmission properties of the 38 m optical fibre train. Significant losses (<20% relative, 4% absolute) are identified and associated with the end termination of the optical fibres in the focal plane. Improved monitoring and maintenance can rectify the majority of this performance degradation.

Accepted for publication (September 2012) Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

References in corpus (3)

• Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): survey diagnostics and core data release
• The case for OH suppression at near-infrared wavelengths
• Sky subtraction at the Poisson limit with fibre-optic multi-object spectroscopy

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): end of survey report and data release 2
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Spectroscopic analysis
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Early Data Release
• The Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey ($S^5$): Overview, Target Selection, Data Reduction, Validation, and Early Science
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Cubism and covariance, putting round pegs into square holes
• Optically visible post-AGB/RGB stars and young stellar objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud: candidate selection, spectral energy distributions and spectroscopic examination
• The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: Final Data Release and the Metallicity of UV-Luminous Galaxies
• The GALAH Survey: Relative throughputs of the 2dF fibre positioner and the HERMES spectrograph from stellar targets