The ULTROS Project is a collaborative effort between two teams at AIP and the University of Potsdam to develop and apply the method of "Nod-Shuffle" observations for faint object 3D spectroscopy using PMAS, the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer.

The picture showing the PMAS lensarray overlayed over a part of the familiar Hubble Deep Field is intended to demonstrate a significant advantage of integral field spectroscopy over conventional techniques: the absence of slit losses, and the complete coverage over a contiguous field-of-view on the sky. In addition to this already existing advantage, the goal is to implement a beam-switching technique, simultaneously clocking charge between storage and exposure areas on a CCD, introduced as "Va-et-Vient" by Cuillandre et al. 1994, A&A 281, 603. The method has been tested and described more recently by Glazebrook & Bland-Hawthorne 2001, PASP 113, 197.

Click on the following thumb-nail sized pictures for full-resolution images, demonstrating the CCD charge-shuffle technique modified for PMAS, which has been tested successfully in the lab and is now ready for further testing at the telescope (use BACKWARD and FORWARD buttons of your browser to obtain an impression of how spectra are clocked into the interleaving gaps):

The Team :

Martin M. Roth (PI, AIP)

Thomas Fechner (CCD Systems/Software, AIP)
Andreas Kelz (Optics/System Engineering, AIP )
Thomas Becker (Data Analysis, AIP)
Petra Böhm (Software/Support, AIP )
Emil Popow (Integration/Test/Support, AIP)
Ute Tripphahn (Support, AIP)

Lutz Wisotzki (Science, AIP / formerly Univ. Potsdam)
Lise Christensen (PhD student, AIP)

Joachim Wambsganss (Science, Univ. Potsdam)
Rodrigo Gil-Merino (Science, Univ. Potsdam)
 

Acknowledgement :

	The ULTROS project is funded by the Verbundforschungsgrant 05AE2BAA/4 from the BMB+F.