MANIAC--A New Mid- and Near-Infrared Array Camera

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Abstract
We present the optical, mechanical and electronical design of MANIAC, the Mid- And Near-Infrared Array Camera, together with some results from the first observing run. MANIAC is a two-channel instrument that offers observations from 1 to 5 microns and from 8 to 28microns at the same time. The advantages of the purely reflective optical design of MANIAC are discussed as well as the options that are provided by simultaneous observations in the two regimes. The construction of MANIAC will be completed in a modular way, each of the five phases offering a fully operational instrument. The first phase, a mid-infrared camera based on a Rockwell 128 times 128 pixel Si:As detector, has now been completed. With a pixel scale of about 0.2 arcsec, the MANIAC mid-infrared channel offers diffraction-limited imaging in the N and Q bands at a 4m-class telescope and a field of view of 26 times 26arcsec. The sensitivity achieved in N-band is very close to the background limit under all observational modes. We also discuss the scientific importance of high-resolution mid-infrared observations, describe the observing methods and characterize the performance of the detector array.

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