CRAL activities on advanced image slicers: Optical design, manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing

A research and development activity on image slicer systems for integral field spectroscopy has grown in the last years. It allows the simultaneous observation on the same detector matrix of two-dimensional sky maps and a spectral decomposition of light reducing the observation times. Today, image slicers lead to possible applications on future instrumentation for ground-based and space telescopes, covering a spectral domain ranging from blue to mid-IR wavelengths. Since 2001, the Centre de Recherche Astronomique de Lyon has designed, manufactured, integrated and tested three different prototypes using advanced image slicers.