The Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER): The Low Resolution Spectrometer

Creators: Tsumura, K.; Arai, T.; Battle, J.; Bock, J. J.; Brown, S.; Cooray, A.; Hristov, V.; Keating, B.; Kim, M. G.; Lee, D. H.; Levenson, L. R.; Lykke, K.; Mason, P.; Matsumoto, T.; Matsuura, S.; Murata, K.; Nam, U. W.; Renbarger, T.; Smith, A.; Sullivan, I.; Suzuki, K.; Wada, T.; Zemcov, M.

Abstract

Absolute spectrophotometric measurements of diffuse radiation at 1 μm to 2 μm are crucial to our understanding of the radiative content of the universe from nucleosynthesis since the epoch of reionization, the composition and structure of the zodiacal dust cloud in our solar system, and the diffuse galactic light arising from starlight scattered by interstellar dust. The Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS) on the rocket-borne Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment is a λ/Δλ ~ 15-30 absolute spectrophotometer designed to make precision measurements of the absolute near-infrared sky brightness between 0.75 μm <λ < 2.1 μm. This paper presents the optical, mechanical, and electronic design of the LRS, as well as the ground testing, characterization, and calibration measurements undertaken before flight to verify its performance. The LRS is shown to work to specifications, achieving the necessary optical and sensitivity performance. We describe our understanding and control of sources of systematic error for absolute photometry of the near-infrared extragalactic background light.

Additional Information

© 2013 American Astronomical Society. Received 2011 August 4; accepted 2011 September 26; published 2013 August 1. This work was supported by NASA APRA research grants NNX07AI54G, NNG05WC18G, NNX07AG43G, and NNX07AJ24G. Initial support was provided by an award to J.B. from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Director's Research and Development Fund. Japanese participation in CIBER was supported by KAKENHI (20·34, 18204018, 19540250, 21340047, 21111004, and 24111717) from the (JSPS) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). Korean participation in CIBER was supported by the Pioneer Project from the Korea Astronomy and Space science Institute (KASI). We would like to acknowledge the dedicated efforts of the sounding rocket staff at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and the White Sands Missile Range. We also acknowledge the work of the Genesia Corporation for technical support of the CIBER optics. K.T. acknowledges support from the JSPS Research Fellowship for the Young Scientists, M. Z. acknowledges support from a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship, and A.C. acknowledges support from an NSF CAREER award. We thank the referee for useful suggestions which have improved this manuscript. Certain commercial equipment, instruments, or materials are identified in this paper to foster understanding. Such identification does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor does it imply that the materials or equipment identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose.

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