The Robotic Multi-Object Focal Plane System of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)
Creators: name: Silber, Joseph Harry
name: Fagrelius, Parker
name: Fanning, Kevin
name: Schubnell, Michael
name: Aguilar, Jessica Nicole
name: Ahlen, Steven
name: Ameel, Jon
name: Ballester, Otger
name: Baltay, Charles
name: Bebek, Chris
name: Beard, Dominic Benton
name: Besuner, Robert
name: Cardiel-Sas, Laia
name: Casas, Ricard
name: Castander, Francisco Javier
name: Claybaugh, Todd
name: Dobson, Carl
name: Duan, Yutong
name: Dunlop, Patrick
name: Edelstein, Jerry
name: Emmet, William T.
name: Elliott, Ann
name: Evatt, Matthew
name: Gershkovich, Irena
name: Guy, Julien
name: Harris, Stu
name: Heetderks, Henry
name: Heetderks, Ian
name: Honscheid, Klaus
name: Illa, Jose Maria
name: Jelinsky, Patrick
name: Jelinsky, Sharon R.
name: Jimenez, Jorge
name: Karcher, Armin
name: Kent, Stephen
name: Kirkby, David
name: Kneib, Jean-Paul
name: Lambert, Andrew
name: Lampton, Mike
name: Leitner, Daniela
name: Levi, Michael
name: McCauley, Jeremy
name: Meisner, Aaron
name: Miller, Timothy N.
name: Miquel, Ramon
name: Mundet, Juliá
name: Poppett, Claire
name: Rabinowitz, David
name: Reil, Kevin
name: Roman, David
name: Schlegel, David
name: Serrano, Santiago
name: Van Shourt, William
name: Sprayberry, David
name: Tarlé, Gregory
name: Tie, Suk Sien
name: Weaverdyck, Curtis
name: Zhang, Kai
name: Azzaro, Marco
name: Bailey, Stephen
name: Becerril, Santiago
name: Blackwell, Tami
name: Bouri, Mohamed
name: Brooks, David
name: Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth
name: Castro, Jose Peñate
name: Derwent, Mark
name: Dey, Arjun
name: Dhungana, Govinda
name: Doel, Peter
name: Eisenstein, Daniel J.
name: Fahim, Nasib
name: Garcia-Bellido, Juan
name: Gaztañaga, Enrique
name: Gontcho, Satya Gontcho A
name: Gutierrez, Gaston
name: Hörler, Philipp
name: Kehoe, Robert
name: Kisner, Theodore
name: Kremin, Anthony
name: Kronig, Luzius
name: Landriau, Martin
name: Guillou, Laurent Le
name: Martini, Paul
name: Moustakas, John
name: Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie
name: Peng, Xiyan
name: Percival, Will
name: Prada, Francisco
name: Prieto, Carlos Allende
name: de Rivera, Guillermo Gonzalez
name: Sanchez, Eusebio
name: Sanchez, Justo
name: Sharples, Ray
name: Soares-Santos, Marcelle
name: Schlafly, Edward
name: Weaver, Benjamin Alan
name: Zhou, Zhimin
name: Zhu, Yaling
name: Zou, Hu
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A system of 5,020 robotic fiber positioners was installed in 2019 on the Mayall Telescope, at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The robots automatically re-target their optical fibers every 10 - 20 minutes, each to a precision of several microns, with a reconfiguration time less than 2 minutes. Over the next five years, they will enable the newly-constructed Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to measure the spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars. DESI will produce the largest 3D map of the universe to date and measure the expansion history of the cosmos. In addition to the 5,020 robotic positioners and optical fibers, DESI's Focal Plane System includes 6 guide cameras, 4 wavefront cameras, 123 fiducial point sources, and a metrology camera mounted at the primary mirror. The system also includes associated structural, thermal, and electrical systems. In all, it contains over 675,000 individual parts. We discuss the design, construction, quality control, and integration of all these components. We include a summary of the key requirements, the review and acceptance process, on-sky validations of requirements, and lessons learned for future multi-object, fiber-fed spectrographs.
description: 51 pages, 41 figures