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The Vainu Bappu Telescope is a 2.34m equatorial telescope characterized by a classical design featuring primary parabolic and secondary hyperbolic profiles. Currently equipped with the OMR and Echelle spectrographs, the telescope facilitates low and high-resolution observations using these instruments individually. Our project aims to upgrade the VBT, enabling the use of both the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrograph and OMR Spectrograph during the same night. To achieve this, we are designing, developing, and fabricating a wide-field corrector with a half-degree field of view in the IIA lab. Subsequently, we plan to implement a multi-fiber-fed system at the VBT prime focus, allowing the operation of both spectrographs during the same night. A prototype unit of a MultiObject Spectrograph (MoS) and Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) for the VBT prime focus is under development. We have successfully created a compact Integral Field Spectrograph using fibers in a 3 x 3 setup in the lab. Ongoing modifications are underway to tailor it for testing two additional instruments—the Integral Field Unit and the Fiber Positioner Unit; both units are also in the development phase. With the gathered experience, we will develop optical designs of high multiplexing fiber-fed spectrograph systems for an upcoming national large telescope (NLOT). These advancements will significantly enhance the observational capabilities of the current telescope (VBT) and lead to the development of high-multiplexing spectroscopic instruments for larger telescopes.
Board of Graduate Studies