The Gemini-North multiobject spectrograph optical performance

The Gemini Multiobject Spectrographs (GMOS) were designed to take advantage of the exquisite image quality expected of the Gemini telescopes. To achieve this, two of the many requirements placed on the optical system was that it not degrade the best image quality expected of the telescope by more than 10% while delivering a throughput of about 80% over the entire 0.4-1 μm waveband. In this paper, key components of the design and execution of this optical system are discussed and test results are presented demonstrating that it meets these requirements on Gemini today. Among other characteristics, we look at the image quality performance as a function of colour and field angle, the measured throughput, and the focalplane flatness on the detectors