HARMONI: Phase A study for a single field, wide band spectrograph for the European Extremely Large Telescope

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The European Extremely Large Telescope is set to be the foremost facility for ground based visible and near-infrared astronomy in the next decade. Proposed to be the world's largest telescope with a primary mirror diameter of 42 metres, the E-ELT will be able to study in detail the early Universe, peering far back to the epoch of formation of the first generation of galaxies. The E-ELT's impressive light gathering power and unsurpassed spatial resolution needs a suitably capable set of instruments to harness its scientific potential effectively. We propose to carry out a Phase A design study of one of the first light instruments for the E-ELT. In November 2007, ESO released a competitive 'Call for Proposals' for a Phase A study for a 'Single Field, Wide Band Spectrograph for the European Extremely Large Telescope'. The University of Oxford led a consortium (involving four other partner institutes) that responded to the call for proposals, and in mid-December, was chosen by ESO to carry out the study (from amongst several proposals by scientists from the ESO member states). HARMONI will be able to operate at several different spatial resolutions, ranging from coarse (assisted by GLAO) to fine (sampling the E-ELT's diffraction limit at near-infrared wavelengths). It will cover the near infrared wavelength range at a spectral resolving power of about 4000, both shorter wavelength coverage and higher spectral resolution extensions will also be considered, as will be a simple coronagraphic mode. The Phase A study will consist of two Phases. In the first phase, we will carry out a trade-off study for the parameters that define the technical specifications of the instrument, such as field of view, spatial sampling, spectral resolution, simultaneous spectral coverage. A science team composed of researchers from the ESO member states, who are keen to carry out scientific programs with HARMONI, will assist in this task. Phase 2 will consist of using the results of the trade-off study to build a conceptual design for HARMONI, including an opto-mechanical concept. This will require close collaboration with ESO to define the interfaces with both the adaptive optics system and the telescope.