Far-Infrared Line Mapper (FILM) on the Infrared Telescope in Space

Abstract

We have developed a Far-Infrared Line Mapper (FILM) as one of the four focal plane instruments on the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS). The FILM is a grating spectrometer designed to simultaneously measure (C II) 158 microns and (O I) 63 microns line intensities and continuum emission near the (C II) line with spatial resolution of 8 arcmin. Very high sensitivity and accuracy are achieved by using stressed and unstressed Ge: Ga detectors at 1.8 K with a helium cooled telescope and by using a spectral scanner to distinguish the line emission from the continuum emission. Line intensities of the (C II) and the (O I) will be mapped over 10% of the sky with much higher sensitivity than the previous survey measurements.