Filter Wheel Research Articles

DEdicated MONitor of EXotransits and Transients (DEMONEXT): System Overview and Year One Results from a Low-cost Robotic Telescope for Followup of Exoplanetary Transits and Transients

We report on the design and first year of operations of the DEdicated MONitor of EXotransits and Transients (DEMONEXT). DEMONEXT is a 20-inch (0.5-m) robotic telescope using a PlaneWave CDK20 telescope on a Mathis instruments MI-750/1000 fork mount. DEMONEXT is equipped with a 2048 × 2048 pixel Finger Lakes Instruments (FLI) detector; a 10-position filter wheel with an electronic focuser and B, V, R, and I, , , , ; and clear filters. DEMONEXT operates in a continuous observing mode and achieves 2-4 mmag raw, unbinned, precision on bright targets with 20–120 second exposures, and 1 mmag precision achieved by binning on 5–6 minute timescales. DEMONEXT maintains sub-pixel ( pixels) target position stability on the CCD over 8 hours in good observing conditions, with degraded performance in poor weather ( pixel). DEMONEXT achieves 1%–10% photometry on single-epoch targets with in 5 minute exposures, with detection thresholds of . The DEMONEXT automated software has produced 143 planetary candidate transit light curves for the KELT collaboration and 48 supernovae and transient light curves for the ASAS-SN supernovae group in the first year of operation. DEMONEXT has also observed for a number of ancillary science projects including Galactic microlensing, active galactic nuclei, stellar variability, and stellar rotation.

A compact grism spectrometer for small optical telescopes

We describe a low-cost compact grism spectrometer for use with small astronomical telescopes. The system can be used with existing charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras and filter wheels. The optical design consists of two prisms, a transmission grating, a collimating lens, and a focusing lens, all enclosed in a 3D-printed housing. The system can be placed inline, typically in an unused filter wheel slot. Unlike conventional spectrometers, it does not require the target to be precisely positioned on a narrow slit. The mean resolving power (R≈ 300) is sufficient to resolve the spectral lines of many astronomical objects discussed in undergraduate astronomy labs, such as stellar absorption lines along the main-sequence, emission lines of early type hot stars and galactic novae, and redshifts of bright quasars and supernovae.

Calibration sources and filters of the soft x-ray spectrometer instrument on the Hitomi spacecraft

The soft x-ray spectrometer was designed to operate onboard the Japanese Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite. In the beam of this instrument, there was a filter wheel containing x-ray filters and active calibration sources. This paper describes this filter wheel. We show the purpose of the filters and the preflight calibrations performed. In addition, we present the calibration source design and measured performance. Finally, we conclude with prospects for future missions.

Simulation of proposed eight-band camera for capturing multispectral images

Multispectral image contains much more information than regular RGB image so that it has wide applications in the field of physics, surveillance, environment monitoring or investigation of artworks. The traditional spectral imaging cameras are mainly based on broom/scanning or filter wheel imaging technologies, while those techniques share significant disadvantages of high cost and structural complexity. In this paper we proposed an eight-band multispectral camera prototype with only one CCD, which is cost-effective and high-speed for capturing the moving objects. A simulated experiment is designed to evaluate the proposed eight-band imaging system. The hyperspectral scene is firstly acquired and imaged on the CCD which generates the raw image, and then a demosaicking algorithm based on modified bilinear interpolation is employed to reconstruct the missing imaging values from the raw image, at last the demosaicked image is converted into spectral values with the conversion coefficient calculated from spectral camera characterization. In order to evaluate the proposed eight-band imaging system, the demosaicked image values and recovered spectral values are compared with the original data respectively in the form of PSNR and RRMS. In the experiment result, the eight-band multispectral camera captures spectral images successfully with high PSNR values and lower RRMS errors.

Focus on microscopy, imaging, and nanotechnology

Focus on microscopy, imaging, and nanotechnology

The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover Mastcam instruments: Preflight and in‐flight calibration, validation, and data archiving

AbstractThe NASA Curiosity rover Mast Camera (Mastcam) system is a pair of fixed‐focal length, multispectral, color CCD imagers mounted ~2 m above the surface on the rover's remote sensing mast, along with associated electronics and an onboard calibration target. The left Mastcam (M‐34) has a 34 mm focal length, an instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of 0.22 mrad, and a FOV of 20° × 15° over the full 1648 × 1200 pixel span of its Kodak KAI‐2020 CCD. The right Mastcam (M‐100) has a 100 mm focal length, an IFOV of 0.074 mrad, and a FOV of 6.8° × 5.1° using the same detector. The cameras are separated by 24.2 cm on the mast, allowing stereo images to be obtained at the resolution of the M‐34 camera. Each camera has an eight‐position filter wheel, enabling it to take Bayer pattern red, green, and blue (RGB) “true color” images, multispectral images in nine additional bands spanning ~400–1100 nm, and images of the Sun in two colors through neutral density‐coated filters. An associated Digital Electronics Assembly provides command and data interfaces to the rover, 8 Gb of image storage per camera, 11 bit to 8 bit companding, JPEG compression, and acquisition of high‐definition video. Here we describe the preflight and in‐flight calibration of Mastcam images, the ways that they are being archived in the NASA Planetary Data System, and the ways that calibration refinements are being developed as the investigation progresses on Mars. We also provide some examples of data sets and analyses that help to validate the accuracy and precision of the calibration.

The PanCam Instrument for the ExoMars Rover

The scientific objectives of the ExoMars rover are designed to answer several key questions in the search for life on Mars. In particular, the unique subsurface drill will address some of these, such as the possible existence and stability of subsurface organics. PanCam will establish the surface geological and morphological context for the mission, working in collaboration with other context instruments. Here, we describe the PanCam scientific objectives in geology, atmospheric science, and 3-D vision. We discuss the design of PanCam, which includes a stereo pair of Wide Angle Cameras (WACs), each of which has an 11-position filter wheel and a High Resolution Camera (HRC) for high-resolution investigations of rock texture at a distance. The cameras and electronics are housed in an optical bench that provides the mechanical interface to the rover mast and a planetary protection barrier. The electronic interface is via the PanCam Interface Unit (PIU), and power conditioning is via a DC-DC converter. PanCam also includes a calibration target mounted on the rover deck for radiometric calibration, fiducial markers for geometric calibration, and a rover inspection mirror. Key Words: Mars—ExoMars—Instrumentation—Geology—Atmosphere—Exobiology—Context. Astrobiology 17, 511–541.

Visible to near-infrared MSL/Mastcam multispectral imaging: Initial results from select high-interest science targets within Gale Crater, Mars

The Mastcam CCD cameras on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover each use an 8-position filter wheel in acquiring up to 1600 × 1200 pixel images. The filter set includes a broadband near-infrared cutoff filter for RGB Bayer imaging on each camera and 12 narrow-band geology filters distributed between the two cameras, spanning the wavelength range 445–1013 nm. This wavelength region includes the relatively broad charge-transfer and crystal-field absorption bands that are most commonly due to the presence of iron-bearing minerals. To identify such spectral features, sequences of images taken with identical pointings through different filters have been calibrated to relative reflectance using pre-flight calibration coefficients and in-flight measurements of an onboard calibration target. Within the first 1000 sols of the mission, Mastcam observed a spectrally diverse set of materials displaying absorption features consistent with the presence of iron-bearing silicate, iron oxide, and iron sulfate minerals. Dust-coated surfaces as well as soils possess a strong positive reflectance slope in the visible, consistent with the presence of nanophase iron oxides, which have long been considered the dominant visible-wavelength pigmenting agent in weathered martian surface materials. Fresh surfaces, such as tailings produced by the drill tool and the interiors of rocks broken by the rover wheels, are grayer in visible wavelengths than their reddish, dust-coated surfaces but possess reflectance spectra that vary considerably between sites. To understand the mineralogical basis of observed Mastcam reflectance spectra, we focus on a subset of the multispectral data set for which additional constraints on the composition of surface materials are available from other rover instruments, with an emphasis on sample sites for which detailed mineralogy is provided by the results of CheMin X-ray diffraction analyses. We also discuss the results of coordinated observations with the ChemCam instrument, whose passive mode of operation is capable of acquiring reflectance spectra over wavelengths that considerably overlap the range spanned by the Mastcam filter set (Johnson et al. 2016). Materials that show a distinct 430 nm band in ChemCam data also are observed to have a strong near-infrared absorption band in Mastcam spectral data, consistent with the presence of a ferric sulfate mineral. Long-distance Mastcam observations targeted toward the flanks of the Gale crater central mound are in agreement with both ChemCam spectra and orbital results, and in particular exhibit the spectral features of a crystalline hematite layer identified in MRO/CRISM data. Variations observed in Mastcam multi-filter images acquired to date have shown that multispectral observations can discriminate between compositionally different materials within Gale Crater and are in qualitative agreement with mineralogies from measured samples and orbital data.

Simultaneous Evaluation of Cerebral Hemodynamics and Light Scattering Properties of the In Vivo Rat Brain Using Multispectral Diffuse Reflectance Imaging.

The simultaneous evaluation of cerebral hemodynamics and the light scattering properties of in vivo rat brain tissue is demonstrated using a conventional multispectral diffuse reflectance imaging system. This system is constructed from a broadband white light source, a motorized filter wheel with a set of narrowband interference filters, a light guide, a collecting lens, a video zoom lens, and a monochromatic charged-coupled device (CCD) camera. An ellipsoidal cranial window is made in the skull bone of a rat under isoflurane anesthesia to capture in vivo multispectral diffuse reflectance images of the cortical surface. Regulation of the fraction of inspired oxygen using a gas mixture device enables the induction of different respiratory states such as normoxia, hyperoxia, and anoxia. A Monte Carlo simulation-based multiple regression analysis for the measured multispectral diffuse reflectance images at nine wavelengths (500, 520, 540, 560, 570, 580, 600, 730, and 760 nm) is then performed to visualize the two-dimensional maps of hemodynamics and the light scattering properties of the in vivo rat brain.

An LED-Based Portable Multi-Excitation Fluorometer

Fluorophore microbeads are widely used in biomolecule detection/quantification, flow tracing reference for gases and liquids, pathogen detection, and other life science applications [1, 2]. Often multiple fluorophores need to be simultaneously detected using spectral multiplexing detection system which is typically operated at a single excitation wavelength with multiple fluorescent emission filters or vice versa [3]. However, it significantly limits the use of different fluorophores since they have different absorption and emission peak wavelengths. Here, we propose a portable multi-excitation fluorometer combined with 12 different bandpass emission filters that can a viable option for detecting multiple fluorophores. Six fluorophore microbeads were selected as target subject for this study: Nile blue, FITC, Cy3, Cy5, Quinine, and Rhodamine B. The sensing system has six excitation light sources for stimulating different fluorophore microbeads in a solution. Each fluorophore bead has different peak absorption and excitation spectra enabling particle differentiation by measuring fluorescent responses under different excitation lights. A PDMS microfluidic chip technology was used to load an aliquot volume of the sample. A highly sensitive silicon photomultiplier tube (SiPM), MicroFC (SensL Inc., Cork, Ireland), was used to detect corresponding fluorescence signals from each fluorophore microbead. A filter wheel containing 12 different bandpass filters controlled by microprocessor was deployed above SiPM to selectively measure corresponding fluorescent signals, as illustrated in the figure. In summary, we have developed an LED-based portable fluorescent sensing system that is capable of differentiating multiple fluorophore microbeads. Future work includes full characterization of the sensor system and fabrication of integrated electronic circuitry for a standalone and field-deployable fluorometer.

Coarse spectral characterization of warm x-rays at the Z facility using a filtered thermoluminescent dosimeter array

A new collimated filtered thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) array has been developed at the Z facility to characterize warm x-rays (hν > 10 keV) produced by Z pinch radiation sources. This array includes a Kapton debris shield assembly to protect the TLDs from the source debris, a collimator array to limit the field of view of the TLDs to the source region, a filter wheel containing filters of aluminum, copper and tungsten up to 3 mm thick to independently filter each TLD, and a hermetically sealed cassette containing the TLDs as well as tungsten shielding on the sides and back of the array to minimize scattered radiation reaching the TLDs. Experimental results from a krypton gas puff and silver wire array shot are analyzed using two different functional forms of the energy spectrum to demonstrate the ability of this diagnostic to consistently extend the upper end of the x-ray spectrum characterization from ∼50 keV to >1 MeV.

An all-sky camera for recording three auroral emissions

The EKA-3/180-11 emission camera creates a snapshot of the celestial hemisphere in the selected auroral emissions of 427.8, 557.7, and 630.0 nm, and makes it possible to determine the spatial distribution of the intensity of these emissions. The instrument is based on an EMCCD camera; the spectral selection is carried out by interference filters. Scanning in spectral channels is carried out by an electromechanical filter wheel with a frame rate of 0.1 Hz. The instrument is designed for regular ground observations and acts as both a narrow-angle emission photometer and an all-sky camera.

Design of a portable imager for near-infrared visualization of cutaneous wounds.

A portable imager developed for real-time imaging of cutaneous wounds in research settings is described. The imager consists of a high-resolution near-infrared CCD camera capable of detecting both bioluminescence and fluorescence illuminated by an LED ring with a rotatable filter wheel. All external components are integrated into a compact camera attachment. The device is demonstrated to have competitive performance with a commercial animal imaging enclosure box setup in beam uniformity and sensitivity. Specifically, the device was used to visualize the bioluminescence associated with increased reactive oxygen species activity during the wound healing process in a cutaneous wound inflammation model. In addition, this device was employed to observe the fluorescence associated with the activity of matrix metalloproteinases in a mouse lipopolysaccharide-induced infection model. Our results support the use of the portable imager design as a noninvasive and real-time imaging tool to assess the extent of wound inflammation and infection.

Full field of view polarization effect measurement and error analysis of non-polarized channels of spaceborne directional polarimetric camera

The optical system of spaceborne directional polarimetric camera that employs an ultra wide-angle lens for its multiangle, a filter wheel for its multispectral and also its multipolarization capability, a CCD itself for its imaging has a certain polarization effect, which can affect the radiometric accuracy of the non-polarized channels of the instrument. The transmittance of the oblique light rays that are incident on the optical element surfaces is sensitive to the orientation of the electric field, contributing to the linear polarization effect of optical system. The precise polarization measurement and calibration of the passive imaging polarimetry are in urgent need to eliminate the instrumental polarization effect and to improve its radiometric accuracy for observation scenes. The non-polarized channel radiometric model considering the linear polarization effect is deduced in detail by analyzing the instrumental principle and optical structures. Moreover, the reasonably simplified model is established based on the actual lens characteristics. A calibration method in which completely linearly polarized light with different kinds of polarization angles irradiates sparsely the instrument within full field of view and subsequently fits the response in the least square sense, is proposed and simulated. In addition, the measured relative errors of the intensity of incident light with different kinds of polarization states caused by the calibration deviations of instrumental principal physical parameters are analyzed and calculated, such as the azimuthal angle of single pixels, explicit optic polarization rate and low frequency spatial relative transmittance. The actual instrumental parameter values and their calibration deviation amounts are acquired by carrying out the laboratory calibration experiment for instrument and combining the least square fitting. Furthermore, the maximum radiometric calibration relative error caused by the deviation of the physical parameter called explicit optic polarization rate is calculated to be 0.4%, fulfilling completely the requirement of radiometric relative accuracy 5% and retaining abundant tolerance. The study provides a theoretical basis and an experimental guidance in high accurately measuring radiation, calibrating and processing data for the instrumental non-polarized channels with full field of view.

Development and characterization of a high speed linear- moving-stage for multispectral measurements

Multispectral imaging is one of the key topics in the upcoming years, a lot of measurement tasks can be solved using the additional spectral information. For the separation of these additional information bands plenty technologies were developed in the last decades. All of them have characteristic advantages and disadvantages. One working principle is the use of a filter wheel containing different filters between the image sensor and the lens. The additional element inside the light propagation path as well as the lens imperfections lead to chromatic aberrations. To compensate the resulting focus error some investigation were made. One option is the movement of the image sensor stage to a better focus position. Therefore high precision moving stage with high movement speed are characteristic parameters which have to be considered during the construction. In this paper a linear motor stage paired with two high precision linear bearings were connected together to achieve the demanded requirements. For the evaluation of this new approach, several measurements determining the dynamic as well as the static specifications were made to proof the achieved characteristics and will be shown in the paper. With this approach, a miniaturised precision system inside the multispectral imager a precision repeatability of less than four microns can be achieved.

Development of SED Camera for Quasars in Early Universe (SQUEAN)

We describe the characteristics and performance of a camera system, Spectral energy distribution Camera for Quasars in Early Universe (SQUEAN). It was developed to measure SEDs of high-redshift quasar candidates (z ≳ 5) and other targets, e.g., young stellar objects, supernovae, and gamma-ray bursts, and to trace the time variability of SEDs of objects such as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). SQUEAN consists of an on-axis focal plane camera module, an autoguiding system, and mechanical supporting structures. The science camera module is composed of a focal reducer, a customizable filter wheel, and a CCD camera on the focal plane. The filter wheel uses filter cartridges that can house filters with different shapes and sizes, enabling the filter wheel to hold 20 filters of 50 mm × 50 mm size, 10 filters of 86 mm × 86 mm size, or many other combinations. The initial filter mask was applied to calibrate the filter wheel with high accuracy, and we verified that the filter position is repeatable at much less than one pixel accuracy. We installed and tested 50 nm medium bandwidth filters of 600–1050 nm and other filters at the commissioning observation in 2015 February. We found that SQUEAN can reach limiting magnitudes of 23.3–25.3 AB mag at 5σ in a one-hour total integration time.

A Wide-Field Camera and Fully Remote Operations at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory

Upgrades at the 2.3 meter Wyoming Infrared Observatory telescope have provided the capability for fully remote operations by a single operator from the University of Wyoming campus. A line-of-sight 300 Megabit s−1 11 GHz radio link provides high-speed internet for data transfer and remote operations that include several realtime video feeds. Uninterruptable power is ensured by a 10 kVA battery supply for critical systems and a 55 kW autostart diesel generator capable of running the entire observatory for up to a week. The construction of a new four-element prime-focus corrector with fused-silica elements allows imaging over a 40′ field of view with a new 40962 UV-sensitive prime-focus camera and filter wheel. A new telescope control system facilitates the remote operations model and provides 20″ rms pointing over the usable sky. Taken together, these improvements pave the way for a new generation of sky surveys supporting space-based missions and flexible-cadence observations advancing emerging astrophysical priorities such as planet detection, quasar variability, and long-term time-domain campaigns.

Education and outreach using the falcon telescope network

The Falcon Telescope Network (FTN) is a global network of small aperture telescopes developed by the Center for Space Situational Awareness Research in the Department of Physics at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). Consisting of commercially available equipment, the FTN is a collaborative effort between USAFA and other educational institutions ranging from two- and four-year colleges to major research universities. USAFA provides the equipment (e.g. telescope, mount, camera, filter wheel, dome, weather station, computers and storage devices) while the educational partners provide the building and infrastructure to support an observatory. The user base includes USAFA along with K-12 and higher education faculty and students. The diversity of the users implies a wide variety of observing interests, and thus the FTN collects images on diverse objects, including satellites, galactic and extragalactic objects, and objects popular for education and public outreach. The raw imagery, all in the public domain, will be accessible to FTN partners and will be archived at USAFA. Currently, there are five Falcon telescopes installed, two in Colorado and one each in Pennsylvania, Chile, and Australia. These five telescopes are in various stages of operational capability but all are remotely operable via a remote desktop application. The FTN team has conducted STEM First Light Projects for three of the U.S. observatories, soliciting proposals from middle and high school students and teachers that suggest and then become what is observed as official STEM first-light objects. Students and teachers learn how to write and submit a proposal as well as how telescopes operate and take data, while university-level students at the U.S. Air Force Academy and The Pennsylvania State University learn how to evaluate proposals and provide feedback to the middle and high school students and teachers. In this paper, we present the current status of the FTN, details of and lessons learned from the STEM First Light Project, and feedback from middle and high school students and teachers.

Fast imaging diagnostics on the C-2U advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration device.

The C-2U device employed neutral beam injection, end-biasing, and various particle fueling techniques to sustain a Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) plasma. As part of the diagnostic suite, two fast imaging instruments with radial and nearly axial plasma views were developed using a common camera platform. To achieve the necessary viewing geometry, imaging lenses were mounted behind re-entrant viewports attached to welded bellows. During gettering, the vacuum optics were retracted and isolated behind a gate valve permitting their removal if cleaning was necessary. The axial view incorporated a stainless-steel mirror in a protective cap assembly attached to the vacuum-side of the viewport. For each system, a custom lens-based, high-throughput optical periscope was designed to relay the plasma image about half a meter to a high-speed camera. Each instrument also contained a remote-controlled filter wheel, set between shots to isolate a particular hydrogen or impurity emission line. The design of the camera platform, imaging performance, and sample data for each view is presented.

The Imager for Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL)

AbstractThe Imager for Sprites and Upper Atmospheric Lightning (ISUAL) was the first specifically dedicated instrument to observe lightning‐induced transient luminous events (TLE): sprites, elves, halos, and gigantic jets from space. The Imager is an intensified CCD system operating in the visible wavelength region with a filter wheel to select from six positions with filters. The Imager has a 5° × 20° (vertical times horizontal) field of view. The spectrophotometer (SP) is populated with six photometers with individual filters for emissions from the far ultraviolet to the near infrared. An array photometer with two channels operating in the blue and red provides altitude profiles of the emission over 16 altitude bins each. The Associated Electronics Package (AEP) controls instrument functions and interfaces with the spacecraft. ISUAL was launched 21 May 2004 into a Sun‐synchronous 890 km orbit on the Formosat‐2 satellite and has successfully been collecting data ever since. ISUAL is running on the nightside of the orbit and is pointed to the east of the orbit down toward the limb. The instrument runs continuously and writes data to a circular buffer. Whenever the SP detects a sudden signal increase above a preset threshold, a trigger signal is generated that commands the system to keep the data for about 400 ms starting from ~50 ms before the trigger. Over its lifetime of ~11 years the system recorded thousands of TLE and also successfully observed aurora and airglow.