Authors

Marshall D. Perrin (1), James E. Larkin (1), René Doyon (2), Simon Thibault (3), Jeffrey K. Chilcote (1), Philippe Vallée (2), Jerome Maire (2), Bruce A. Macintosh (4), James R. Graham (5), Leslie Saddlemeyer (6), Lisa Poyneer (4), Christian Marois (6), David W. Palmer (4)

Affiliations

(1) UCLA; (2) Université de Montréal; (3) Université Laval; (4) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; (5) UC Berkeley; (6) Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics

Abstract

The Gemini Planet Imager high contrast adaptive optics system delivers its science light to a lenslet-based integral field spectrograph (IFS) developed by UCLA and the Université de Montréal. For detecting and characterizing planetary companions, the IFS can obtain spectra in five bands from 0.95-2.4 microns with spectral resolution from 30 to 80. For studies of light scattered from circumstellar disks, an integral field polarimetry mode uses a Wollaston prism in place of the spectral dispersing prism to achieve broadband dual-channel polarimetry. The 2.8 arcsec square field of view is matched to the AO coronagraphic "dark hole" region at the camera’s longest wavelength. There is also a pupil viewing mode for alignment. We describe the optical design of the IFS, discuss tradeoffs made in the design process, and summarize construction and testing status. (See the presentation by J. Chilcote for more detailed test results.) End-to-end observation simulations processed through our existing data reduction pipeline demonstrate that the IFS, together with the rest of the GPI system, will be a powerful tool for studying the properties of young Jovian exoplanets.