HST/WFC3 in-orbit grism performance

H. Kuntschner; H. Bushouse; M. Kümmel; J. R. Walsh; J. MacKenty

doi:10.1117/12.856421

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10 August 2010 HST/WFC3 in-orbit grism performance

H. Kuntschner, H. Bushouse, M. Kümmel, J. R. Walsh, J. MacKenty

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Proceedings Volume 7731, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 77313A (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856421
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is fitted with three grisms for slitless spectroscopy. In the UVIS channel there is one grism, G280, for the near-UV to visible range (200 - 400nm; 1.4nm/pix). The IR channel has two grisms: G102 for the shorter (800-1150nm; 2.45nm/pix) and G141 for the longer (1100-1700nm; 4.65nm/pix) NIR wavelengths. Using Servicing Mission Observatory Verification (SMOV) and Cycle 17 calibration data we have assessed the performance of the grisms. We have measured the fielddependent trace locations and dispersion solutions and determined the throughputs. The trace and wavelength solutions for the IR grisms were found to be linear functions, varying smoothly across the field of view. The UVIS grism exhibits a highly bent trace and significantly non-linear dispersion solutions. The maximum throughputs for the G102 and G141 grisms, including the telescope optics, are 41% at 1100 nm and 48% at 1450 nm, respectively. Limiting magnitudes at S/N=5 and a 1h exposure are J_AB=22.6 and H_AB=22.9 for the G102 and G141 grisms, respectively. The calibration results are published in the form of sensitivity and configuration files that can be used with our dedicated extraction software aXe to reduce WFC3 slitless data.

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H. Kuntschner, H. Bushouse, M. Kümmel, J. R. Walsh, and J. MacKenty "HST/WFC3 in-orbit grism performance", Proc. SPIE 7731, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 77313A (10 August 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856421

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