塩谷 圭吾

The AKARI satellite (formerly known as ASTRO-F) is Japan's first infrared astronomical satellite. AKARI is equipped with the infrared camera (IRC) and the far-infrared surveyor (FIS), which are cooled below 7 K. The AKARI's 68.5 cm telescope, which is made of SiC, is also cooled below 7 K. A unique feature of the AKARI cryostat is that it uses both cryogen and mechanical coolers. Using mechanical coolers, the helium lifetime can be greater than one year with 170 L of liquid helium. AKARI was launched on February 21, 2006 (UT), from the Uchinoura Space Center (USC). It has been performing successfully in orbit. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The next Japanese infrared space telescope SPICA features a large 3.5-m-diameter primary mirror and an optical bench cooled to 4.5 K with advanced mechanical cryocoolers and effective radiant cooling instead of using a massive and short-lived cryogen system. To obtain a sufficient thermal design margin for the cryogenic system, cryocoolers for 20 K, 4 K, and I K have been modified for higher reliability and higher cooling power. The latest results show that all mechanical cryocoolers achieve sufficient cooling capacity for the cooling requirement of the telescope and detectors on the optical bench at the beginning of life. Consequently, the feasibility of the SPICA cryogenic system concept was validated, while attempts to achieve higher reliability, higher cooling capacity and less vibration have continued for stable operations at the end of life. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A 720 mm. diameter 12-segment-bonded carbon-fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composite mirror has been fabricated and tested at cryogenic temperatures. Interferometric measurements show significant cryogenic deformation of the C/SiC composite mirror, which is well reproduced by a model analysis with measured properties of the bonded segments. It is concluded that the deformation is due mostly to variation in coefficients of thermal expansion among segments. In parallel, a 4-degree-of-freedom ball-bearing support mechanism has been developed for cryogenic applications. The C/SiC composite mirror was mounted on an aluminum base plate with the support mechanism and tested again. Cryogenic deformation of the mirror attributed to thermal contraction of the aluminum base plate via the support mechanism is highly reduced by the support, confirming that the newly developed support mechanism is promising for its future application to large-aperture cooled space telescopes. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.

We have developed a cold chopper system for mid-infrared observations. This system is installed into the newly developing mid-infrared instrument, MAX38, for the University of Tokyo Atacama 1.0-m telescope. It is cooled to about 9K. The cold chopper mirror is controlled by a piezoelectric actuator with a flexure hinge lever, and enables square-wave chopping at a frequency up to 7.8 Hz. At the moment, the maximum throw of the chopper is 30 arcseconds on the sky. This cooled chopping mirror system can also be applied to the tip-tilt mirror for SPICA infrared space telescope. We carried Out the first light with Kanata 1.5-m telescope at Higashi-Hiroshima Observatory (Hiroshima, Japan) in June 2007 and March 2008. In this observation, we demonstrated that the cold chopper could cancel out the atmospheric turbulence noise of a frequency of 5 Hz at 8.9 micron.

The SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) is a infrared space-borne telescope mission of the next generation following AKARI. SPICA will carry a telescope with a 3.5 m diameter monolithic primary mirror and the whole telescope will be cooled to 5 K. SPICA is planned to be launched in 2017, into the sun-earth L2 libration halo orbit by an H II-A rocket and execute infrared observations at wavelengths mainly between 5 and 200 micron. The large telescope aperture, the simple pupil shape, the capability of infrared observations from space, and the early launch gives us with the SPICA mission a unique opportunity for coronagraphic observation. We have started development of a coronagraphic instrument for SPICA. The primary target of the SPICA coronagraph is direct observation of extra-solar Jovian planets. The main wavelengths of observation, the required contrast and the inner working angle (IWA) of the SPICA coronagraph are set to be 5-27 micron (3.5-5 micron is optional), 10 , and a few λ/D (and as small as possible), respectively, in which λ is the observation wavelength and D is the diameter of the telescope aperture (3.5m). For our laboratory demonstration, we focused first on a coronagraph with a binary shaped pupil mask as the primary candidate for SPICA because of its feasibility. In an experiment with a binary shaped pupil coronagraph with a He-Ne laser (λ=632.8nm), the achieved raw contrast was 6.7×10 , derived from the average measured in the dark region without active wavefront control. On the other hand, a study of Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) was initiated in an attempt to achieve better performance, i.e., smaller IWA and higher throughput. A laboratory experiment was performed using a He-Ne laser with active wavefront control, and a raw contrast of 6.5×10 was achieved. We also present recent progress made in the cryogenic active optics for SPICA. Prototypes of cryogenic deformable by Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) techniques were developed and a first demonstration of the deformation of their surfaces was performed with liquid nitrogen cooling. Experiments with piezo-actuators for a cryogenic tip-tilt mirror are also ongoing. -6 -8 -7

Prolate (Pupil) Apodized Lyot Coronagraphs (PPALC) are known to offer optimal performances for a Lyot-type Coronagraph configuration, i.e. with an opaque occulting focal mask. One additional benefit of PPALC is its possible use in a multi-stage configuration. In theory, the coronagraphic performance can be QN, where Q is the energy rejection factor of one stage (the first one), and N the number of stages. Several ground-based telescopes are considering PPALC as an option for their high-contrast instrumentation (e.g. Gemini/GPI, EELT/EPICS, Subaru HiCIAO). Although the PPALC suffers from several limitations, several works are currently focused on fabricating entrance pupil apodizers and trying to find ways to overcome chromatism issues. In this work, we present the first experimental results from Multi- Stage PPALC (MS-PPALC) that was done in the context of the japanese space telescope SPICA coronagraph project. Our entrance pupil apodizers use small diameter High Energy Beam Sensitive glass (HEBS-glass) from Canyon Materials Inc. The current results show modest coronagraphic performance due to uncompensated phase aberrations inherent to HEBS-glass material. In addition, and due to these uncompensated phase aberrations, the present optical configuration is an altered version of the originally planned set-up. However, we can demonstrate the validity the MSPPALC concept and compare it to numerical simulations.

We present a preliminary optical design and layout for the mid-infrared (4-18 mu m) high-resolution spectrograph for I SPICA, Japanese next-generation space IR observatory with 3.5 m telescope. MIR high-resolution spectroscopy is a powerful probe to study gas-phase molecules/atoms in a, variety of astronomical objects. Space observation provides a great opportunity to study many molecular lines especially in between the atmospheric windows. SPICA gives us a, chance to realize MIR high-resolution spectroscopy from space with the large telescope aperture. The major technical challenge is the size of the spectrograph, which tends to be too large for space. We hope to overcome this problem with a novel MIR immersion grating, which can make the instrument smaller by a factor of the refractive index of the grating material. We plan to fabricate a large pitch ZnSe (n = 2.4) immersion grating with the fly-cutting technique at LLNL (see Poster paper 7018-183 by Ikeda et al.(1) and 7018-181 by Kuzmenko et al.(2) in the proceedings of this conference). We show our preliminary spectrograph designs with a spectral resolution of similar to 30,000 in 4-8 mu m (short mode) and 12-18 mu m (long mode). The instrument size can be as small as 200 x 400 mm thanks to the MIR immersion gratings. With unprecedented spectral resolution in space, which is 10-times higher than ISO-SWS. the high-resolution spectrograph for SPICA (SPICA-HIRES) could be a unique instrument that can provide most sensitive and clear spectra of this kind.

The SPICA mission has been proposed to JAXA as the second Japanese IR space telescope to be launched in 2017. The SPICA spacecraft, launched with an H-IIA launch vehicle, is to be transferred into a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2, where effective radiant cooling is feasible owing to solar rays and radiant heat fluxes from the Earth constantly coming from the same direction. That optimal thermal environment enables this IR space telescope to use a large 3.5-m-diameter-single-aperture primary mirror cooled to 4.5 K with advanced mechanical cryocoolers and effective radiant cooling instead of a massive and short-lived cryogen. As a result of thermal and structural analyses, the thermal design of cryogenic system was obtained. Then, mechanical cryocoolers have been developed to meet cooling requirement at 1.7 K, 4.5 K and 20 K. The latest results of upgrading of the 20 K-class two-stage Stirling cooler, the 4K-class JT cooler, and the I K-class JT cooler indicate that all cryocoolers gain a sufficient margin of cooling capacity with unprecedentedly low power consumption for the cooling requirement. It is concluded that the feasibility of the SPICA mission was confirmed for the critical cryogenic system design, while some attempts to achieve higher reliability, higher cooling capacity and less vibration have been continued for stable operations throughout the entire mission period.

The Infrared Camera (IRC) is one of two focal-plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. It is designed for wide-field deep imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy in the near- to mid-infrared (1.8-26.5 micron) in the pointed observation mode of AKARI. The IRC is also operated in the survey mode to make an All-Sky Survey at 9 and 18 microns. The IRC is composed of three channels. The NIR channel (1.8-5.5 micron) employs a 512×412 InSb photodiode array, whereas both the MIR-S (4.6-13.4 micron) and MIR-L (12.6-26.5 micron) channels use 256×256 Si:As impurity band conduction (IBC) arrays. Each of the three channels has a field-of-view of approximately 10×10 arcmin., and they are operated simultaneously. The NIR and MIR-S channels share the same field-of-view by virtue of a beam splitter. The MIR-L observes the sky about 25 arcmin. away from the NIR/MIR-S field-of-view. The in-flight performance of the IRC has been confirmed to be in agreement with the pre-fiight expectation. More than 4000 pointed observations dedicated for the IRC are successfully completed, and more than 90% of the sky are covered by the all-sky survey before the exhaustion of the Akari's cryogen. The focal-plane instruments are currently cooled by the mechanical cooler and only the NIR channel is still working properly. Brief introduction, in-flight performance and scientific highlights from the IRC cool mission, together with the result of performance test in the warm mission, are presented.

AKARI, the first Japanese satellite dedicated to infrared astronomy, was launched on 2006 February 21, and started observations in May of the same year. AKARI has a 68.5 cm cooled telescope, together with two focal-plane instruments, which survey the sky in six wavelength bands from mid- to far-infrared. The instruments also have a capability for imaging and spectroscopy in the wavelength range 2-180 mu m in the pointed observation mode, occasionally inserted into a continuous survey operation. The in-orbit cryogen lifetime is expected to be one and a half years. The All-Sky Survey will cover more than 90% of the whole sky with a higher spatial resolution and a wider wavelength coverage than that of the previous IRAS all-sky survey. Point-source catalogues of the All-Sky Survey will be released to the astronomical community. Pointed observations will be used for deep surveys of selected sky areas and systematic observations of important astronomical targets. These will become an additional future heritage of this mission.

We present the 3.5 m SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) space telescope, the launch of which is schedule around year 2015 by the Japanese HII-A rocket, and specifically discuss its use in the context of direct observation of extra-solar planets. This actively cooled (4.5 K), single aperture telescope will operate in the mid and far infrared spectral regions, and up to submillimetric wavelengths (200 mu m). The lowest spectral region (5 to 20 mu m), where the spatial resolution is the most favorable, will be dedicated to high contrast imaging with coronagraphy. This article describes the SPICA coronagraph project in terms of science, as well as our efforts to study a suitable instrumental concept, compatible with the constraints of the telescope architecture.

The Infrared Camera (IRC) is one of two focal-plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. It is designed for wide-field deep imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy in the near- to mid-infrared (1.8-26.5 μm) in the pointed observation mode of AKARI. The IRC is also operated in the survey mode to make an All-Sky Survey at 9 and 18 μm. It comprises three channels. The NIR channel (1.8-5.5 μm) employs a 512 × 412 InSb array, whereas both the MIR-S (4.6-13.4 μm) and MIR-L (12.6-26.5 μm) channels use 256 × 256 Si:As impurity band conduction arrays. Each of the three channels has a field-of-view of about 10′ × 10′, and they are operated simultaneously. The NIR and MIR-S share the same field-of-view by virtue of a beam splitter. The MIR-L observes the sky about 25′ away from the NIR/MIR-S field-of-view. The IRC gives us deep insights into the formation and evolution of galaxies, the evolution of planetary disks, the process of star-formation, the properties of interstellar matter under various physical conditions, and the nature and evolution of solar system objects. The in-flight performance of the IRC has been confirmed to be in agreement with the pre-flight expectation. This paper summarizes the design and the in-flight operation and imaging performance of the IRC. © 2007. Astronomical Society of Japan.

We present the status of the development of a coronagraph for the Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA). SPICA is the next generation of infrared space-borne telescope missions following to AKARI, led by Japan. SPICA will carry a telescope that has a 3.5 in diameter monolithic primary mirror and the whole telescope will be cooled to 4.5 K. It is planned to launch SPICA into the sun-earth L2 libration halo orbit using H II-A rocket in the middle of the 2010s and execute infrared observations at wavelengths mainly between 5 and 200 micron. The SPICA mission gives us a unique opportunity for coronagraph observations, because of the large telescope aperture, the simple pupil shape, the capability of infrared observations from space, and the early launch. We have started development of the SPICA coronagraph in which the primary target is direct observation of extra-solar Jovian planets. The main wavelengths of observation, the required contrast and the inner working angle (IWA) of the SPICA coronagraph instrument are set to be 5-27 micron, 10(-6), and a few VD (and as small as possible), respectively, in which A is the observation wavelength and D is the diameter of the telescope aperture (3.5m). We focused on a coronagraph with a binary shaped pupil mask as the primary candidate for SPICA because of its feasibility. Nano-fabrication technology using electron beam lithography was applied to manufacture a high precision mask and a laboratory experiment with a He-Ne laser (lambda=632.8nm) was performed in air without active wavefront control. The raw contrast derived from the average measured in the dark region reached 6.7x10(-8). On the other hand, a study of Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) was started in an attempt to achieve higher performance, i.e., smaller IWA and higher throughput. A hybrid solution using PIAA and a shaped pupil mask was proposed. A laboratory experiment was performed using a He-Ne laser with. active wavefront control via a 32x32 channel deformable mirror. A raw contrast of 6.5x 10(-7) was achieved. Designs of binary shaped pupil mask are presented for the actual SPICA pupil which is obstructed by the telescope's secondary mirror and its support. Subtraction of point spread function (PSF) was also evaluated.

SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) is a Japanese astronomical infrared satellite project with a 3.5-m telescope. The target year for launch is 2017. The telescope is cooled down to 4.5 K in space by a combination of newly-developed mechanical coolers with an efficient radiative cooling system at the L2 point. The SPICA telescope has requirements for its total weight to be lighter than 700 kg and for the imaging performance to be diffraction-limited at 5 μm at 4.5 K. Material for the SPICA telescope mirrors is silicon carbide (SiC). Among various types of SiC, primary candidates comprise normally-sintered SiC, reaction-sintered SiC, and carbon-fiber- reinforced SiC; the latter two have been being developed in Japan. This paper reports the current design and status of the SPICA telescope along with our recent activities on the cryogenic optical testing of SiC and C/SiC composite mirrors, including the development of an innovative support mechanism for cryogenic mirrors, which are based on lessons learned from a SiC 70 cm telescope onboard the previous Japanese infrared astronomical mission AKARI.

We present sets of configurations of binary-shaped pupil coronagraphs optimized for a realistic space telescope to directly detect extrasolar giant planets. For the purpose of mid-infrared observations, the target contrast ratio is set to 10(-7). We made a systematic assessment of the performance of two recently proposed pupil shapes, "checkerboard" and "concentric ring" masks, where a large central obstruction due to a secondary mirror and its related support spiders was introduced into the telescope pupil. It turned out that, if the secondary mirror diameter is smaller than similar to 15% of the diameter of the primary, the checkerboard-type masks are more promising in terms of the total high-contrast area. With such a small secondary, we propose to modify the original symmetrical checkerboard apodization function. This modification enables us to achieve a 10(-7) contrast at an inner working angle (IWA) of 4.0 lambda/D. On the other hand, when the secondary mirror size cannot be reduced to that level, the concentric ring masks are preferable because of their larger transmission. It was also found that the transmission through the optimal binary masks exhibits two characteristic features as the IWA increases: firstly, abrupt increases and secondly, plateaus. We attribute this nature of the binary apodization functions to the existence of threshold]WAS that allow large openings in the pupil.

We carried out a one-night optical V and near-infrared JHK monitoring observation of the least luminous Seyfert 1 galaxy, NGC 4395, on 2004 May 1, and detected for the first time the intraday flux variations in the J and H bands, while such variation was not clearly seen for the K band. The detected J and H variations are synchronized with the flux variation in the V band, which indicates that the intraday-variable component of near-infrared continuum emission of the NGC 4395 nucleus is an extension of power-law continuum emission to the near-infrared and originates in an outer region of the central accretion disk. On the other hand, from our regular program of long-term optical BVI and near-infrared JHK monitoring observation of NGC 4395 from 2004 February 12 until 2005 January 22, we found large flux variations in all the bands on timescales of days to months. The optical BVI variations are almost synchronized with each other but not completely with the near-infrared JHK variations. The color temperature of the near-infrared variable component is estimated to be K, T = 1320 - 1710 in agreement with thermal emission from hot dust tori in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We therefore conclude that the near-infrared variation consists of two components having different timescales, so that a small K-flux variation on a timescale of a few hours would possibly be veiled by large variation of thermal dust emission on a timescale of days.

The most intense monitoring observations yet made in the optical and near-infrared wave bands were carried out for Seyfert 1 galaxies NGC 5548, NGC 4051, NGC 3227, and NGC 7469 by the MAGNUM telescope, and clear time-delayed responses of the K-band flux variations to the V-band flux variations were found for all of these galaxies. Their H - K color temperatures of 1500 - 1800 K, estimated from their observed flux variation gradients, support a view that the bulk of the K flux should originate in the thermal radiation of hot dust surrounding the central engine and that the lag time should correspond to light-travel distance between them. Cross-correlation analysis measures their lag times to be 47 - 53 (NGC 5548), 11 - 18 (NGC 4051), about 20 (NGC 3227), and 65 - 87 (NGC 7469) days. The lag times are tightly correlated with the optical luminosities, as expected from dust reverberation (Delta t proportional to L-0.5), while weakly with the central virial masses, which suggests that the inner radii of the dust tori around active nuclei have one-to-one correspondences with their central luminosities. In the lag time versus central luminosity diagram, the K-band lag times place an upper boundary on the similar lag times of broad emission lines in the literature, which not only supports the unified scheme of AGNs but also implies a physical transition from the BLR out to the dust torus that encircles the BLR. Correlated short-term V-band and X-ray flux variations in NGC 5548 are also found with a delay of 1 or 2 days, indicating the thermal reprocessing of X-ray emission by the central accretion flow.

We present the status of the development of a coronagraph for the Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA). SPICA is the next generation infrared space-borne telescope missions led by Japan. The SPICA satellite will be equipped with a telescope that has a 3.5 m diameter monolithic primary mirror and the whole telescope will be cooled to 4.5 K. The satellite is planed be launched early in the 2010s into the sun-earth L2 libration halo orbit and execute infrared observations at wavelengths mainly between 5 and 200 micron. The SPICA mission gives us a unique opportunity for coronagraph observations, because of the large telescope aperture, a simple pupil shape, capability of infrared observations from space and the early launch. We have started development of the SPICA coronagraph in which the primary target is direct observation of extra-solar Jovian planets. The main wavelengths of observation, the required contrast and the inner working angle (IWA) of the SPICA coronagraph instrument are set to be 5-20 micron, 10(6), and approximately 5 lambda/D respectively, where lambda is the observation wavelength and D is the diameter of the telescope aperture. Coronagraphs using a checkerboard mask and a concentric ring mask have been investigated. We found some solutions for the SPICA-pupil, which has a large obstruction due to the secondary mirror and its supports. We carried out laboratory experiments to examine coronagraphs obtained using checkerboard-type pupil masks with a central obstruction. Nano-fabrication technology with electron beam was applied to manufacture a high precision mask consisting of a patterned aluminum film on a glass substrate and its performance was confirmed by experiments with visible light. Contrast higher than 10(6) was achieved. In the future, we will be developing a cryogenic mid-infrared test-bed to investigate the SPICA coronagraphs.

The lightweight cryogenic telescope on board the Japanese infrared astronomical satellite, ASTRO-F, which is scheduled to be launched early in 2006, forms an F/6 Ritchey-Chretien system with a primary mirror of 710 mm. in diameter. The mirrors of the ASTRO-F telescope are made of sandwich-type silicon carbide (SiC) material, comprising a porous core and a chemical-vapor-deposited coat of SiC on the surface. To estimate the optical performance of the flight model telescope, the telescope assembly was tested at cryogenic temperatures, the total wavefront errors of which were measured by an interferometer from outside a liquid-helium chamber. As a result, the wavefront error obtained at 9 K shows that the imaging performance of the ASTRO-F telescope is diffraction limited at a wavelength of 6.2 mu m, which is a little worse than our original goal of diffraction-limited performance at 5.0 mu m. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.

SPICA is a cooled, single large-mirror space-telescope, which is under discussion as an succsesor of the ASTRO-F mission. One of the most ambitious challenges of the SPICA mission is the direct observations of exoplanets with a coronagraph instrument. We report cryogenic infrared optics to realize high quality wavefronts for the SPICA coronagraph. The SPICA satellite will be launched by an H-IIA rocket to Sun-Earth L2 Halo orbit early in the 2010s. The SPICA telescope is a Ritchey-Chretien optics with 3.5m diameter primary mirror, and cooled down to 4.5 K in orbit by radiation cooling and mechanical cryo-coolers. Main working wavelengths are 5-200 micron. Advantages of the SPICA coronagraph are the infrared wavelenths where the contrast between planets and central stars are smaller than the optical wavelengths, and that the cooled space telescope consists of monolithic mirrors. Development of light-weight cooled telescope is one of the most important tasks to realize SPICA. At the present, sintered SiC and carbon fiber reinforced SiC (C/SiC) composite are candidate materials for the mirrors, truss, and optical bench. For these materials, estimations and improvements of basic property and surface roughness in cryogenic temperatures have been carried out. Deformation of trial product mirrors by cooling is also examined. We are developing cryogenic deformable mirrors (DMs) because wave front accuracy of the SPICA telescope is 0.35 micron RMS, which is not enough for our coronagraphic instrument. For MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) DM and some others, measurements of thermal deformation by cooling, electrical response, and heat generation are undergoing. Developments of a tip-tilt system for cryogenic usage started to cancel vibration caused by the cryo-coolers and other components and to realize a diffraction limit resolution. The first result of our binary mask coronagraph experiment is also shown. © 2006 International Astronomical Union.

As of early ∼2010's, the Japanese SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) space observatory will be launched. This actively cooled, cryogenic (4.5K), 3.5m telescope will operate in the mid and far infrared spectral regions. With its very high sensitivity, one of SPICA's aims will be the direct detection and characterization of extra-solar outer planets of nearby stars. The goal contrast ranges from 10 to 10 up to an angular separation of ∼5 arcsec. The relatively low angular resolution at MIR (5 to 20 μm) requires an efficient and robust coronagraphic mode working at cryogenic temperatures. In this presentation we describe several envisaged preliminary designs and assess their performance against the science goals and host telescope specifications. These are compared against numerical simulations and instrumental environment considerations, such as the need for an actively corrected wavefront. © 2006 International Astronomical Union. 5 6

We present configurations of shaped pupil coronagraphs optimized for a realistic telescope to directly detect extrasolar giant planets in the mid-IR wavelengths. This study is linked to the development of the coronagraphic instrument aboard SPICA (SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics). We made a systematic assessment of the performance of the "checkerboard" and "concentric ring" masks, introducing a large central obstruction (C.O.) due to a secondary mirror and its related support spiders. With a small secondary mirror, we also propose a modification to the original symmetrical checkerboard apodization, which enables us to achieve a 10 contrast level at 4.0 λ/D. The transmission through the optimal binary masks exhibits abrupt increases and plateaus as the inner working angle (IWA) is increased. We attribute these properties of binary apodization function to the existence of threshold IWAs that allow large openings in the pupil. © 2006 International Astronomical Union. -7

In this paper, we describe our recent activities on wave-front measurement of space infrared telescopes. Optical performance of the 685-mm lightweight telescope on board the Japanese infrared astronomical satellite, ASTRO-F, has been evaluated at cryogenic temperatures. The mirrors of the ASTRO-F telescope are made of sandwich-type silicon carbide (SiC) material, comprising porous core and CVD coat of SiC on the surface. The total wavefront errors of the telescope were measured with an interferometer from outside a liquid-helium chamber; a 75-cm reflecting flat mirror was used for auto-collimating the light from the interferometer. The cryogenic deformation of the flat mirror was derived independently by shifting it in the chamber and its contribution to the wavefront error was removed. In addition to the ASTRO-F telescope, we are currently developing a 3.5-m telescope system for SPICA, the next Japanese infrared astronomical satellite project. Details of our methodology for the ASTRO-F telescope, together with our optical test plan for the SPICA telescope, are reported.

The Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) mission is the third Japanese astronomical infrared satellite project of a 3.5m cooled telescope optimized for mid- to far-infrared observations, following the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) and the ASTRO-F missions. It will employ mechanical coolers and an efficient radiative cooling system, which allow us to have a cooled (4.5K) telescope of the aperture much larger than previous missions in space. The SPICA will attack a number of key problems in present-day astrophysics, ranging from the origin of the universe to the formation of planetary systems, owing to its high spatial resolution and unprecedented sensitivity in the mid- to far-infrared. The large aperture size for cryogenically use is, however, a great challenge and demands substantial technology developments for the telescope system. We adopt monolithic mirror design in the baseline model because of the technical feasibility and reliability. We set the optical performance requirement as being diffraction limited at 5μm at the operating temperature of 4.5K. The total weight attributed to the telescope system is 700kg, which requires a very light 3.5m primary mirror together with the mirror support structure. At present we are working on two candidate materials for the SPICA telescope: silicon carbide (SiC) and carbon-fiber reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC). This presentation gives a general overview of the SPICA mission and reports the current design and status of the SPICA telescope system, including recent progress of the development of C/SiC mirrors.

One of the key technologies for next generation space telescope with a large-scale reflector is a material having high specific strength, high specific stiffness, low coefficient of thermal expansion and high coefficient of thermal conductivity. Several candidates such as fused silica, beryllium, silicon carbide and carbon fiber reinforced composites have been evaluated. Pitch-based carbon fiber reinforced SiC composites were developed for the SPICA space telescope mirror to comply with such requirements. Mechanical performance such as bending stiffness, bending strength and fracture toughness was significantly improved. Evaluation procedures of thermal expansion and thermal conductivity behavior at cryogenic temperatures (as low as 4.5K) were established and excellent performance for the SPICA mirror was demonstrated.

The most intensive multicolor monitoring observations in the optical and near-infrared wave bands were carried out for the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. During a monitoring period from 2001 March to 2003 July, the V(0.55 mum) and K(2.2 mum) fluxes separately reached a minimum state twice. A delayed response of light variations in the K band to those in the V band was detected, and the lag time Deltat was measured by a cross-correlation analysis based on a new technique of simulating the light curves to fill in the sampling gaps. The measured lag time is Deltat = 48(-2)(+3) days in the first minimum state and Deltat = 47(-6)(+5) days in the second minimum state. The lag time is interpreted as the light-travel time from the central energy source to the surrounding dust torus, because the K light is emitted from the hot dust heated by absorption of ultraviolet and optical light from the central energy source. Compared with lag measurements of the broad emission lines in the literature, the lag time for such dust reverberation is found to be longer, indicating that the inner radius of the dust torus corresponds to an outer edge of the broad emission line region in NGC 5548. Furthermore, the V light curve exhibits short-timescale variations superposed on its global variation. These variations on timescales of 10 days or less are found to correlate with X-ray variations and delay behind them by 1 or 2 days, indicating the optical reprocessing of X-ray emission in the central accretion flow in NGC 5548.

The most intense monitoring observations yet made were carried out on the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151 in the optical and near-infrared wave bands. A lag from the optical light curve to the near-infrared light curve was measured. The lag time between the V and K light curves at the flux minimum in 2001 was precisely 48(-3)(+2) days, as determined by a cross-correlation analysis. The correlation between the optical luminosity of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and the lag time between the UV/optical and the near-infrared light curves is presented for NGC 4151 in combination with previous lag-time measurements of NGC 4151 and other AGNs in the literature. This correlation is interpreted as thermal dust reverberation in an AGN, where the near-infrared emission from an AGN is expected to be the thermal reradiation from hot dust surrounding the central engine at a radius where the temperature equals that of the dust sublimation temperature. We find that the inner radius of the dust torus in NGC 4151 is similar to0.04 pc corresponding to the measured lag time, well outside the broad-line region determined by other reverberation studies of the emission lines.

The SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics), which is a Japanese astronomical infrared satellite project with a 3.5-m telescope, is scheduled for launch in early 2010s. The telescope is cooled down to 4.5 K in space by a combination of mechanical coolers with an efficient radiative cooling system. The SPICA telescope has requirements for its total weight to be lighter than 700 kg and for the imaging performance to be diffraction-limited at 5 μm at 4.5 K. Two candidate materials, silicon carbide (SiC) and carbon-fiber-reinforced SiC (C/SiC composite), are currently under investigation for the primary mirror. A monolithic mirror design will be adopted in both cases because of the technical feasibility and reliability. This paper reports the current design and status of the SPICA telescope together with some of our recent results on laboratory cryogenic tests for the SiC and C/SiC composite mirrors.

One of the key technologies for next generation space telescope with a large-scale reflector is a material having high specific strength, high specific stiffness, low coefficient of thermal expansion and high coefficient of thermal conductivity. Several candidates such as fused silica, beryllium, silicon carbide and carbon fiber reinforced composites have been evaluated. Pitch-based carbon fiber reinforced SiC composites were developed for the SPICA space telescope mirror to comply with such requirements. Mechanical performance such as bending stiffness, bending strength and fracture toughness was significantly improved. Evaluation procedures of thermal expansion and thermal conductivity behavior at cryogenic temperatures (as low as 4.5K) were established and excellent performance for the SPICA mirror was demonstrated.

The Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) mission is a Japanese astronomical infrared satellite project optimized for mid-to far-infrared observations. It will be launched at ambient temperature and cooled down on orbit by mechanical coolers on board with an efficient radiative cooling system, which allow us to have a 3.5m cooled (4.5 K) telescope in space. SPICA will answer a number of important problems in present-day astronomy, ranging from the star-formation history of the universe to the formation of planets, owing to its high spatial-resolution and unprecedented sensitivity in the mid- to far-infrared. The large aperture mirror for cryogenically use in space, however, demands a challenging development for the telescope system. A single-aperture design of the primary mirror will be adopted for the SPICA telescope rather than deployable mirror designs to avoid further complexity and ensure the feasibility. The number of actuators for the primary mirror, if needed, will be minimized. Silicon carbide and carbon-fiber reinforced silicon carbide are extensively investigated at present as the prime candidate materials for the SPICA primary mirror This presentation reports the current status of the SPICA telescope system development.

We report the surface structure and roughness of the mirrors made of carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composite improved for the SPICA (Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) mission. The improved C/SiC is a candidate of material for the SPICA light weight mirrors because of its superior properties: high toughness, high stiffness, small thermal deformation, feasibility to make large single dish mirror, low cost, and short term for production. The surface of the bare C/SiC composite consists of carbon fiber, silicon carbide and silicon, each of which has different hardness, so it is difficult to polish this surface smoothly. Our improved polishing technique achieved the surface roughness of better than 20nm RMS for the C/SiC composite flat mirror, which satisfies the requirement of the SPICA mission. For curved bare surface of the C/SiC mirror, the roughness is larger than 30 nm and now under improving. The Change of Bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of the bare C/SiC composite at cryogenic temperature was measured with 632.8nm lasar. No significant difference was found between the BRDFs at 95K and that at room temperature. In order to improve surface roughness further, we are planning to apply the SiSiC slurry coating on the surface of the improved C/SiC composite. This combination can realize the surface roughness well enough to be applied even for optical telescopes.

Light-weight mirrors are developed for two Japanese infrared astronomical missions, ASTRO-F and SPICA. ASTRO-F is scheduled for launch in 2005, while the target year for launch of SPICA is 2010. The mirrors of the ATRO-F telescope are made of a sandwich-type silicon carbide (Sic) material, comprising porous core and CVD coat of Sic on the surface. Cryogenic measurements of the ASTRO-F primary mirror and telescope assembly were performed extensively. As for the SPICA telescope, which has an aperture of 3.5-m diameter, carbon-fiber-reinforced Sic (C/SiC composite), as well as Sic, is one of the promising candidates for mirror material. C/SiC composite spherical test mirrors of 160-mm diameter has recently been manufactured and tested. This paper presents the experimental results of the cryogenic performance obtained for the sandwich-type SiC mirrors and the C/SiC composite mirrors.

We present the outline and the current status of the MAGNUM automated observation system. The operational objective of the MAGNUM Project is to carry out long-term multi-color monitoring observations of active galactic nuclei in the visible and near-infrared wavelength regions. In order to obtain these observations, we built a new 2 m optical-infrared telescope, and sited it at the University of Hawaii's Haleakala Observatory on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Preliminary observations were started early in 2001. We are working toward the final form of the MAGNUM observation system, which is an unmanned, automated observatory. This system requirement was set by considering that the observation procedures are relatively simple, and the targets must be observed consistently over many years.

Near-infrared JHK' imaging photometry was obtained of 331 AGNs consisting mainly of Seyfert 1 active galactic nuclei ( AGNs) and quasars ( QSOs). This sample was selected to cover a range of radio emission strength, redshift from z = 0 to 1, and absolute B magnitude from M-B = -29 mag to -18 mag. Among low-z AGNs with z < 0.3, Seyfert 1-1.5 AGNs are distributed over a region from a location typical of galaxies to a location typical of "QSOs" in the two-color J-H to H-K' diagram, but Seyfert 1.8-2 AGNs are distributed around the location of galaxies. Moreover, bright AGNs with respect to absolute B magnitude are distributed near the location of QSOs, while faint AGNs are near the location of galaxies. The distribution of such low-z AGNs in this diagram was found to have little dependence on their 6 cm radio flux. The near-infrared colors of the AGNs observed with an aperture of 7 pixels (7."49) are more QSO-like than those observed with larger apertures up to 15 pixels (16."1). This aperture effect may be explained by contamination from the light of host galaxies within larger apertures. This effect is more prominent for less luminous AGNs.

MAGNUM Project is designed to carry out multi color monitoring observations of hundreds of ACNs over several years in order to measure the distance to these far away objects using simple physical principles and thereby determine cosmic parameters. The project has been funded by the RESearch Center of Early Universe (RESCEU). The project started in 1995 and observations are planned to begin in 1998. For the project, we are building a new remote controlled observatory with a 2m automated telescope as well as new infrared and optical instruments. The telescope is optimized for infrared observations and for obtaining monitoring observations over many years. Our plan is to operate the observatory at the Haleakala summit on the Island of Maui, a suitable place for long time monitoring observations. The telescope is 2m in diameter and has an alt-azimuth mount. The observatory will be equipped with such facilities as an automated instrument changer, weather monitor, environmental monitor and cloud cover monitor, making it easier to operate the telescope automatically and remotely. Observations will be carried out using an on-site scheduler, which will be commanded through a networked remote computer. Two observatory instruments are being built for the MAGNUM Project. The first is an infrared and optical imaging photometer which incorporates a dichroic beam-splitter and has an imaging capability over a wide wavelength range from 0.3 mu m to 4 mu m. It will be primarily used for AGN monitoring. The other is a wide field (33' field of view) 8K x 8K mosaic CCD camera.

We present the optical, mechanical and electronic design of MAGNUM-MIP (the Multi-color Imaging Photometer for the MAGNUM Project). The MAGNUM project plans to carry out multi color monitoring observations for hundreds of AGNs over several years under remote and automated operation. MAGNUM-MIP has two channels that offer optical and infrared broad-band imaging observations at the same time. The: infrared channel has a SBRC InSb 256 x 256 array which covers a wavelength range from 1 to 4 microns, and the optical channel uses a 1024 x 1024 SITE CCD which covers 0.35 micron to I micron. The two channels use the same optics and a beam splitter. We adopted a reflecting optical system inn order to get good imaging quality over the wide wavelength range. Because the monitoring is expected to be carried out remotely for several years with minimun manual support and maintenance, the camera is designed to work with only semi-annual maintenance. It has a mechanical cooler, a low outgas design, and an automated vacuum system.