GeminiFocus July 2016 | Page 18

Figure 3. Participants of the LGSF kick-off meeting visit the Gemini South telescope facility in Chile. age to the charge-coupled devices (CCD). By reproducing one of the “unwanted features” of the current GMOS-S focal plane array (very low level pattern removable by dithering) we have learned how to work around this issue in the future. We conducted some of these tests using a custom printed circuit board that simulated the CCD’s electrical interface, allowing direct and safe measurement of the signals at the CCD pins. This also provided faster testing as we could avoid the thermal cycle overheads. This “dummy CCD board” will become a new diagnostic tool for operation at both Gemini North and South. Once the ARC controller is validated (July 2016), we will mount and align the science CCDs in the Gemini North Instrumentation Lab for their acceptance test. All this work has been done thanks to strong support from Detector Engineer Luc Boucher, instrumentation specialists John White and Eduardo Tapia, who all invested a lot of time and effort to make sure this progress happened. We expect to have the complete system ready for installation in 2016B with actual installation into GMOS-N in early 2017A. 16 GeminiFocus LGSF Update Gemini South is procuring a new laser from the German corporation Toptica Photonics AG for the Gemini South Multi-conjugate adaptive optics System. On April 28th three representatives of Toptica’s Laser Guide Star Facility (LGSF) upgrade project, and stakeholders from science and engineering operations, attended the kick-off meeting for Toptica’s SodiumStar 20/2, the company’s new laser guide star system. Participants visited Cerro Pachón where they clarified several technical issues to ensure smooth installation of the new laser at the Gemini South telescope (Figure 3). Meeting participants also discussed the delivery schedule and required infrastructure to receive the new laser. The Toptica Laser is scheduled to arrive at Cerro Pachón by midNovember 2016 after passing Factory Acceptance Testing, scheduled to take place by September. Work packages for the LGSF upgrade project are progressing and we expect to have received, tested, installed, and commissioned the new laser by May 2017. For efficient operations we will install the Toptica Laser Control Electronics Cabinet July 2016