CUBES: optical design and analysis of the VLT's high-resolution UV spectrograph past final design review

Abstract

CUBES (Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph) will be the most efficient UV spectrograph on an 8-10m class telescope, exploiting the ESO VLT's higher telescope efficiency relative to the ESO ELT in ground-based UV wavelengths. The instrument provides wavelength coverage over a range of 300-405nm, with high instrumental efficiency (>37%) and a resolving power of >20,000 (HR) and >6,000 (LR). It will be mounted on the Cassegrain focus of the VLT in Paranal. This paper presents the optical design of the system after the final design review. The optical subsystems detailed include: a pair of UV-optimized atmospheric dispersion correctors designed to function out to a zenith angle of 65°; high throughput HR and LR image slicers used to reformat the field-of-view; and a dispersion-compensating three-lens spectrographic camera design.

11 pages, 16 figures, presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescope and Instrumentation, Copenhagen, 2026