• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.125.2-125.2
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• 2011

We are developing medium resolution cross-dispersed silicon grisms in the near IR region ($1.45{\sim}5.2{\mu}m$). The grisms will be installed in MIMIR, a multifunction instrument at the Lowel Observatory, USA. The two devices are designed to cover H and K band and L and M band simultaneously. Our goal is to make grism with R=3000 at 1.2 arcsec slit. The Silicon has high refractive index (n=3.4 at $1.5{\mu}m$) which enhances the resolving power by up to 5 times when compared to conventional material such as BK-7 (n=1.5 at 1.5 ${\mu}m$). The bonded grisms will be installed in a filter wheel for the uses switch from spectroscopic mode to imaging mode easily. Our device is compact and light weighted while it provides a decent resolving power. We produce monolithic grisms using e-beam lithography at the NASA JPL and chemically etching the grooves on the silicon prisms. Moreover, the main-disperser and cross-disperser will be contacted together by direct Si-Si bonding technique and eventually turn into one piece. The bonded pair offers more stability in terms of the layout of the spectrum and removes the Fresnel loss at the intersection of two grisms. We report on the proper wafer bonding steps through this research, and inspected the bonding quality thermally, optically and mechanically.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.201-209
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• 2007

We have preliminarily designed two infrared optical systems of the multi-purpose infrared camera system (MIRIS) which is the main payload of STSAT-3. Each optical system consists of a Cassegrain telescope, a field lens and a 1:1 re-imaging lens system that is essential for providing a cold stop. The Cassegrain telescope is identical for both of two infrared cameras, but the field correction lens and re-imaging lens system are different from each other because of different bands of wavelength. The effective aperture size is 100mm in diameter and the focal ratio is f/5. The total length of the optical system is 300mm and the position of the cold stop is 25mm from the detector focal plane. The RMS spot size is smaller than $40{\mu}m$ over the whole detector plane.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.31.4-32
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• 2016

Observing the solar atmosphere with ground-based telescopes in the near-infrared has a number of advantages when compared to classical measurements in visible wavelengths. One of them comes from the magnetic sensitivity of spectral lines, which varies as ${\lambda}_g$, where g is the effective $Land{\acute{e}}$ factor of the transition. This wavelength dependence makes the near-infrared range adequate to study subtle spatial or temporal variations of the magnetic field. Spectral lines, such as the photospheric Fe I $1.5648{\mu}m$ spectral line, with a $Land{\acute{e}}$ factor g=3, have often been used in the past for this type of studies. To study the chromosphere, the Ca II IR triplet and the He I $1.0830{\mu}m$ triplet are the most often observed lines. The latter has the additional advantage that the photospheric Si I $1.0827{\mu}m$ is close enough so that photosphere and chromosphere can be simultaneously recorded with a single detector in a spectrograph. The instrument TIP (Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter) has been continuously operating since 1999 at the 70-cm German VTT of the Observatorio del Teide and has been recently moved to the 1.5-m German GREGOR. During all this time, results have been obtained concerning the nature of the weak photospheric magnetic field of the quiet sun, magneto-acoustic wave propagation, evolution with the cycle of sunspot magnetic fields, photospheric and chromospheric magnetic field in emerging regions, magnetic field in chromospheric structures such as filaments, prominences, flares, and spicules, etc. In this talk, I will review the main results obtained after all these observations and mention the main challenges for the future. With its novel polarization-free design and a complete suite of instruments aimed at simultaneous (imaging and spectroscopic) observations of the solar photosphere and chromosphere, the EST (European Solar Telescope) will represent a major world-wide infrastructure to understand the physical nature of all these phenomena.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.54.1-54.1
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• 2014

Kyung Hee University has been developing a CubeSat for the space science mission called SIGMA (Scientific cubesat with Instrument for Global Magnetic field and rAdiation), which includes TEPC (Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter) and a magnetometer. SIGMA has a 3-unit CubeSat, and the weight is about 3.2 kg. The main payload is TEPC which can measure the Linear Energy Transfer (LET) spectrum and calculate the equivalent dose for the complicated radiation field in the space. The magnetometer is a secondary payload using a miniaturized fluxgate magnetometer. We expect it to have a 1 nT resolution in the dynamic range of ${\pm}65535$ nT. An Attitude Control System (ACS) spins the SIGMA spacecraft 4 rpm with the spin axis perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. Full duplex communication is consists of VHF uplink and S-band and UHF downlink. In this paper, we introduce the system design and the scientific purpose of the SIGMA CubeSat mission.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.53.2-53.2
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• 2014

IGRINS, the Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrometer, is a near-infrared wide-band high-resolution spectrograph jointly developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and the University of Texas at Austin. IGRINS employs three HAWAII-2RG focal plane array (FPA) detectors. The mechanical mounts for these detectors serves a critical function in the overall instrument design: Optically, they permit the only positional compensation in the otherwise "build to print" design. Thermally, they permit setting and control of the detector operating temperature independently of the cryostat bench. We present the design and fabrication of the mechanical mount as a single module. The detector mount includes the array housing, a housing for the SIDECAR ASIC, a field flattener lens holder, and a support base. The detector and ASIC housing will be kept at 65 K and the support base at 130 K. G10 supports thermally isolate the detector and ASIC housing from the support base. The field flattening lens holder attaches directly to the FPA array housing and holds the lens with a six-point kinematic mount. Fine adjustment features permit changes in axial position and in yaw and pitch angles. We optimized the structural stability and thermal characteristics of the mount design using computer-aided 3D modeling and finite element analysis. Based on the computer simulation, the designed detector mount meets the optical and thermal requirements very well.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.51-59
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• 2006

We have successfully developed the KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) Solar Imaging Spectrograph (KSIS), which has been originally upgraded from the KASI solar spectrograph that was able to record solar spectra for a given slit region and to inspect the response function of narrow band filters. A prototype KSIS was developed in 2004 by using a scanning mirror in front of the spectrograph slit and a SBIG ST-8XE CCD camera. Its main disadvantage is that it took a long time (about 13 minutes) to scan a whole active region. In this work, we have upgraded the KSIS by installing a much faster Dalsa 1M15 CCD camera, which gives a data acquisition time of about 2.5 minutes. The software for KSIS was also improved for the new CCD camera on the basis of component-based development method. We have successfully made a test observation for a simple and small active region (AR10910) using the improved KSIS system. Our observations show that H-alpha images for several wavelengths have typical features in a sunspot as well as a H-alpha centerline image is quite similar to a BBSO H-alpha image, demonstrating the capability of the KSIS system.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.81-86
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• 2012

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth within the inner radiation belt, where high-energy protons are produced by collisions of cosmic rays to the upper atmosphere. About 6 astronauts stay in the ISS for a long period, and it should be important to monitor and assess the radiation environment in the ISS. The tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) is an instrument to measure the impact of radiation on the human tissue. KASI is developing a TEPC as a candidate payload of the ISS. Before the detailed design of the TEPC, we performed simulations to test whether our conceptual design of the TEPC will work propertly in the ISS and to predict its performance. The simulations estimated that the TEPC will measure the dose equivalent of about 1:1 mSv during a day in the ISS, which is consistent with previous measurements.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.39-47
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• 2012

MIRIS, Multi-purpose Infra-Red Imaging System, is the main payload of STSAT-3 (Korea Science & Technology Satellite 3), which will be launched in the end of 2012 (the exact date to be determined) by a Russian Dnepr rocket. MIRIS consists of two camera systems, SOC (Space Observation Camera) and EOC (Earth Observation Camera). During a shock test for the flight model stability in the launching environment, some lenses of SOC EQM (Engineering Qualification Model) were broken. In order to resolve the lens failure, analyses for cause were performed with visual inspections for lenses and opto-mechanical parts. After modifications of SOC opto-mechanical parts, the shock test was performed again and passed. In this paper, we introduce the solution for lens safety and report the test results.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.208.2-208.2
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• 2012

The Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) is a key telescope of Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) space project to explore the first sub-minute or sub-seconds early photons from the Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) afterglows. The first realization of UFFO is the 20kg UFFO-Pathfinder (UFFO-P) to be launched on board the Russian Lomonosov satellite in 2013 by the Soyuz-2 rocket. Once the UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope (UBAT) detects the GRBs, Slewing mirror (SM) will rotate to bring the GRB into the SMT's field of view instead of slewing the entire spacecraft. SMT can image the UV/Optical counterpart with about 4-arcsec accuracy. However it will provide a important understanding of the GRB mechanism by measuring the sub-minute optical photons from GRBs. SMT can respond to the trigger over $35^{\circ}{\times}35^{\circ}$ wide field of view within 1 sec by using Slewing Mirror Stage (SMS). SMT has 10-cm Ritchey-Chretien telescope and $256{\times}256$ pixilated Intensified Charge-Coupled Device (ICCD) on focal plane. In this paper, we discuss the overall design of UFFO-P SMT instrument and payloads development status.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.239.1-239.1
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• 2012

This paper presents the results of one of early sciences with Korean VLBI Network (KVN): a large fringe survey of compact radio sources at 43GHz. We established the catalog of correlated flux densities in three ranges of baseline projection lengths of 637 sources from a 43 GHz (Q-band) survey observed with the Korean VLBI Network. Of them, 623 sources have not been observed before at Q-band with VLBI. The goal of this work in the early science phase of the new VLBI array is twofold: to evaluate the performance of the new instrument that operates in a frequency range of 22--129 GHz and to build a list of objects that can be used as targets and as calibrators. We have observed the list of 799 target sources with declinations down to $-40{\circ}$. Among them, 724 were observed before with VLBI at 22 GHz and had correlated flux densities greater than 200 mJy. The overall detection rate is 78%. The detection limit, defined as the minimum flux density for a source to be detected with 90% probability in a single observation, was in a range of 115--180 mJy depending on declination. However, some sources as weak as 70 mJy have been detected. Of 623 detected sources, 33 objects are detected for the first time in VLBI mode. We determined their coordinates with the median formal uncertainty 20 mas. The results of this work set the basis for future efforts to build the complete flux-limited sample of extragalactic sources at frequencies 22 GHz and higher at 3/4 of the celestial sphere.