AMBER, the Near-Infrared /Red VLTI Focal Instrument

The near-infrared / red focal instrument of the VLTI, called AMBER, will operate between 1 and 2.5 µm in a first phase (2001–2003) with two UTs. This instru-ment has been designed for three beams to be able to perform images through phase closure techniques. The wave-length coverage will be extended in a second phase down to 0.6 µm at the time the ATs become operational. The magni-tude limit of AMBER is expected to reach K = 20 when a bright reference star is available and K = 14 otherwise. The main scientific objectives are the investigation at very high angular resolution of disks and jets around young stellar objects and AGN dust tori with a spectral resolution up to 10,000. 1