Organisation Description

The UK Astronomy Technology Centre has a mission to be the UK’s National Centre for the design and production of state of the art astronomical technology. Its core functions are the design and production astronomical instrumentation, provision of a national focus for UK instrumentation activity, stimulation of collaborations involving university groups, provision of key expertise required for instrument and telescope development, and participation in the strategic planning co-ordination and management of the ground-based astronomy programme. Part of the Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council.

Product/Research Description

We design and manufacture one or two-off cameras, spectrometers and adaptive optics systems operating in the wavelength range of 350 nm to 2mm uv to THz. These systems have to operate in remote high mountain sites or in space and consequently need to be very reliable. Expertise used in these projects include: opto-mechanical design of cryogenic instruments and mechanisms; software development from low-level control to observatory data reduction systems; electronics for the data acquisition and control; and optimisation and development of detector arrays. Project and Programme management activities include acting as the Management Organisation for a wide field 4m telescope being built in Chile.

New Products

Under development include: WFCAM: a very wide-field camera for UKIRT, a Beam steering Mirror for SPIRE on the ESA Far Infrared and Submillimetre Telescope, the VISTA survey telescope and SCUBA-2: a wide field submillimetre the camera with novel Transition Edge Superconductor arrays.
Recent projects include an adaptive optics system NAOMI and multi colour calibration systems for Gemini, MICHELLE: an 8-28 micron spectrometer and imager, GMOS: a pair of multi-slit 0.36 – 1.1 micron spectrometer/cameras for the Gemini telescopes, UIST a 1.5-5 micron grism spectrometer with image slicer for the UKIRT. We built the most sensitive sub camera in the world, SCUBA.
Many of these projects are international collaborations with academic and industrial organisations.

Quality Standards

ESA software engineering standards.

Main Markets

Customers include group-based Telescopes in Hawaii (UKIRT, JCMT, Gemini) Chile (Gemini, VISTA, ALMA) and La Palma (INT, WHT), with most of the funding coming from PPARC/STFC. Some capabilities for space projects are undertaken for European Observatories. We are developing our capabilities for space projects, inlcuding FIRST and a Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Future projects are likely to include systems and instruments as part of the European extremely large telescope (E-ELT) – up to 42 metres in diameter.

Services Offered

We can provide opto-mechanical design services, where compatible with our core programme.
Technology Translation via Photonics Knowledge Transfer Network.

Specialised Skills and Facilities

Skills: Optical design over a wide range of wavelength, including diffraction and straylight analysis. Mechanical design of optical systems and mechanisms operating at temperatures from ambient to <100mK. System design of vacuum and cryogenic systems from 77K down to 0.1K. Expertise in the application of HgCdTc detectors
Software engineering: real-time to data reduction. Electronic design for the data acquisition and control; and optimisation of detector arrays across the waveband from CCDs via hybrid IR arrays (such as SiAs 320×240 and InSb 1024×1024) to very low temperature bolometer arrays at submillimetre wavelengths. Systems Engineering. Project and Project Management.

Facilities: Manufacturing of precision opto-mechanical systems using CAD/CAM. Class 1000 cleanroom with class 100 laminar-flow cabinet. Electronic assembly and test labs. Optical test labs. Flexure measurement rig. Cold-room for environment testing. Software engineering tools.

Collaboration Sought or Offered

We are particularly interested in developing partnerships between university research departments and industry, where this can help put the UK in a better position to take leading roles in future astronomy projects.