SPIRou: the near-infrared spectropolarimeter/high-precision velocimeter for the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope

Étienne Artigau , Driss Kouach (1) , Jean-François Donati (1) , René Doyon , Xavier Delfosse (2) , Sébastien Baratchart (1) , Marielle Lacombe (1) , Claire Moutou (3) , Patrick Rabou (2) , Laurent P. Parès (1) , Yoan Micheau (1) , Simon Thibault , Vladimir A. Reshetov , Bruno Dubois (1) , Olivier Hernandez , Philippe Vallée , Shiang-Yu Wang , François Dolon (1) , Francesco A. Pepe , François Bouchy (4) , Nicolas Striebig (1) , François Hénault (2) , David Loop , Leslie Saddlemyer , Gregory Barrick (3) , Tom Vermeulen (3) , Michel Dupieux (1) , Guillaume Hébrard (5) , Isabelle Boisse , Eder Martioli , Silvia H. P. Alencar , José-Diaz Do Nascimento , Pedro Figueira

1 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
2 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
3 CFHT - Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation
4 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
5 IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris

SPIRou is a near-IR echelle spectropolarimeter and high-precision velocimeter under construction as a next- generation instrument for the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope. It is designed to cover a very wide simultaneous near-IR spectral range (0.98-2.35 μm) at a resolving power of 73.5K, providing unpolarized and polarized spectra of low-mass stars at a radial velocity (RV) precision of 1m/s. The main science goals of SPIRou are the detection of habitable super-Earths around low-mass stars and the study of stellar magnetism of star at the early stages of their formation. Following a successful final design review in Spring 2014, SPIRou is now under construction and is scheduled to see first light in late 2017. We present an overview of key aspects of SPIRou's optical and mechanical design.

Keywords: Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Étienne Artigau, Driss Kouach, Jean-François Donati, René Doyon, Xavier Delfosse, et al.. SPIRou: the near-infrared spectropolarimeter/high-precision velocimeter for the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. Proceedings of the SPIE, 0000, à renseigner, Unknown Region. ⟨10.1117/12.2055663⟩. ⟨insu-03645352⟩