Minutes from February 1999 EXES Meeting

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JL, DJ, MKH, TG, and MR attending

EPO:
DJ found out about grant ($300) available to teacher/scientist partnerships. Each scientist can sponsor one teacher. MKH will determine partners. Next meeting is on Feb 20. Will use project lab and work on electronics.

Optics:
Have been investigating test gratings produced by Hyperfine. First attempt at 36" grating was unacceptable. There was a pronounced 2-groove error. The groove flatness and tilt was well beyond tolerances. Hyperfine improved their machine and produced a 10" long grating. Groove flatness was excellent, but there was a four groove periodic error in groove positioning. We believe the cause is the groove-spacing conflicting with the lead screw on Hyperfine's machine. We are investigating the consequences of changing the groove-spacing to 0.2" or 0.3" from 0.28".

Detector:
Need to have bare readout by time electronics arrives. Need science grade array by October for December observing run.

Electronic and Software:
NIRSHELL run at end of January demonstrated the detector control software is very primative. LINUX system repeatedly crashed. DOS system was workable, but not optimal. Plan to update with TCL/tk drivers written by Livermore team.

Schedule:
March telescope run will possibly be delayed. McDonald Engineering might trade late April time for our late March run. This will give us more time for Hyperfine to produce an acceptable 36" grating and for us to test it.

To keep EXES on schedule, JL is to concentrate on EXES opto-mechanical design. MR is to concentrate on TEXES.


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This document last updated: 14 Feb, 1999