A far infrared spectrometer for SPICA mission: optical E2E of SAFARI

Abstract

This paper describes the end-to-end opto-mechanical design of the SAFARI instrument on SPICA and the analysis of the spectrometer optical performances. SAFARI instrument is a high sensitivity grating-based spectrometer operating in the 34-230 μm wavelength range. The scientific drivers lead to the implementation of two modes of operation. The Low- Resolution (LR) or nominal mode (R~300) and the High-Resolution (HR), that implies to include a Martin-Puplett Fourier Transform Spectrometer (MP-FTS) to achieve the required spectral resolution (R~2000-11000). The optical system is all-reflective and consists of three main modules. The input optics module (IOM) is an unobscured reflective Offner relay. In the IOM a Beam Steering Mirror (BSM) is included for spatial modulation and to allow efficient sky mapping. The Band and Mode Distributing Optics (BMDO) module splits the radiation band into the four different spectral bands and includes the MP-FTS. The field image existing at the output of the BMDO constitutes the entrance to the Grating Module Optics (GM). These modules provide spectral dispersion by means of linear and reflective diffraction gratings and the final image onto the detectors. Performances of the GMs are high demanding with a detector divided into 2 sub-bands with a different pixel size for each sub-band.