FISICA: The Florida image slicer for infrared cosmology and astrophysics

We report on the design and status of the Florida Image Slicer for Infrared Cosmology and Astrophysics (FISICA) – a fully-cryogenic all-reflective image-slicing integral field unit for the FLAMINGOS near-infrared spectrograph. Designed to accept input beams near f/15, FISICA with FLAMINGOS provides R ∼ 1300 spectra over a 16 × 33″ field-of-view on the Cassegrain f/15 focus of the KPNO 4-m telescope, or a 6 × 12″ field-of-view on the Nasmyth or Bent Cassegrain foci of the Gran Telescopio Canarias 10.4-m telescope. FISICA accomplishes this using three sets of “monolithic” powered mirror arrays, each with 22 mirrored surfaces cut into a single piece of aluminum. We review the optical and opto-mechanical design, fabrication, laboratory test results, and on-telescope performance for FISICA.