The Optical Components of the NIRS PEC Wheel Mechanisms

Marc M. Ellenrieder a,* , K. Weidlich a , B. Nelles a ,

B. Ploss b , S. Bruynooghe c , J. Köhler d , and M. Te Plate e
a Carl Zeiss Optronics GmbH, Special Optics Dept., Carl-Zeiss-Str. 22, 73447 Oberkochen, Germany
b mso jena Mikroschichtoptik GmbH, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
c Carl Zeiss AG, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 22, 73447 Oberkochen, Germany
d EADS Astrium GmbH, 81663 München, Germany
e European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk ZH, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT
The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRS PEC) on board the James Webb Space Telescope can be reconfigured in space for
astronomical observation in a range of NIR sub-bands as well as spectral resolutions. Reconfiguration of the NIRSpec
instrument will be achieved using a Filter Wheel Mechanism (FWA) which carries 7 transmission filters and one reflective
mirror and a Grating Wheel Mechanism (GWA) which carries six gratings and one prism. The dispersive components
on the grating wheel (GWA) cooperate with the edge transmission filters mounted on the filter wheel (FWA) which block
the higher dispersion orders of the gratings. The paper gives an overview on the design of all optical elements, their key
requirements and the employed manufacturing approach. Test results from breadboard and component level qualification
phase are also given.
Keywords: Cryomechanisms, Transmission Filters, Band-pass filter, blazed grating, prism, NIRSpec, Spectrometer, Test-
ing, JWST

1. INTRODUCTION
As successor to the successful Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is currently being built
under joint responsibility of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It will be
launched in 2013.

1.1 The NIRS PEC Instrument

One of the four instruments on board JWST is the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRS PEC), which covers the wavelength
range between 600nm and 5000nm. The NIRS PEC is being built by EADS Astrium GmbH.
The NIRS PEC is a multi-object spectrograph which enables scientists to obtain simultaneous spectra of at least 100
objects in a > 9arcmin2 field of view. It can be reconfigured in space for astronomical observation. The NIRS PEC employs
an electromechanical microshutter array for aperture control, and has two HgCdTe-detector arrays. To allow for low-noise
operation, the NIRS PEC is passively cooled in space to a temperature in the 30 - 39K range.
Reconfiguration of the NIRS PEC instrument will be achieved using a Filter Wheel Mechanism (FWA) which carries 7
transmission filters and a calibration mirror and a Grating Wheel Mechanism (GWA) which carries six gratings, one prism
and a mirror. The dispersive components on the grating wheel (GWA) cooperate with the edge transmission filters mounted
on the filter wheel (FWA) which block the higher dispersion orders of the gratings. Science observation with high spectral
resolution R = 1000, 3000 is limited to the wavelength range 1000 nm to 5000 nm and is achieved with the dispersion
gratings. This spectral range is split up into three sub-bands covered by different gratings. Low resolution observation
(R = 100) over the complete NIRS PEC bandwidth is possible by using a CaF 2 prism as a dispersive element.
An overview over the NIRS PEC instrument and its mechanical design is given in a companion paper 1 and earlier
publications.2 Fig. 1a shows a design drawing of the NIRS PEC.
* Contact Information: m.ellenrieder@optronics.zeiss.com; phone +49-7364-20 2756

Advanced Optical and Mechanical Technologies in Telescopes and Instrumentation, edited by Eli Atad-Ettedgui,
Dietrich Lemke, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018, 701822, (2008) · 0277-786X/08/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.789727

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-1

2008 SPIE Digital Library -- Subscriber Archive Copy
 Filter Wheel
Assembly

Grating Wheel SS)

Assembly

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 1. The NIRS PEC instrument (a) (picture courtesy of EADS Astrium GmbH) with the Filter (b) and Grating Wheel Assemblies
(c).

1.2 The Filter and Grating Wheel Assemblies

NIRS PEC’s Filter and Grating Wheel Assemblies are being designed, manufactured and tested by a consortium led by
C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS GmbH in Oberkochen, Germany. The design is based on the heritage from the ISOP HOT
mechanism. GWA and FWA are based on almost identical mechanism support structures (MS) and mainly differ in the
wheel disk assemblies, cf. Fig. 1b and Fig. 1c. A detailed description of the mechanism can be found in a companion
publication to this article, 3 as well as in earlier publications. 4, 5

2. THE OPTICAL ELEMENTS OF THE FILTER WHEEL ASSEMBLY

2.1 Overview
The Filter Wheel Assembly (FWA) comprises eight optical elements:

• Four long-pass filters denominated LP-0.7, LP-I, LP-II, and LP-III,

• Two broadband filters denominated BB-A and BB-B,
• One clear or open filter, and
• One position carrying a calibration and a closed position mirror, denominated CAL3 and CPM, which contains a
pupil alignment reference PAR.

The long-pass filters LP-0.7 and LP-I to LP-III block to shorter wavelengths and are matched with a corresponding grating
in order to limit spectroscopic observation to a single grating diffraction order in a well-defined wavelength band. The
broadband filters are used for target acquisition purposes. For the long-pass filters, CaF 2 was selected as substrate mate-
rial. The broadband filters use radiation-hardened BK7-G18 as substrate material because its absorption above 3 micron
wavelength could be favorably used for blocking performance. The free diameter of the filter components is about 70 mm.
All long-pass Filters and the BB-A filter are designed and manufactured by mso jena according to specifications from
C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS. The BB-B filter is designed and manufactured at the C ARL Z EISS coating laboratories in
Oberkochen. All qualification tests are done by Carl Zeis Optronics GmbH.

2.2 Filters
For NIRS PEC, six special filter coatings needed to be developed. Their spectral performance requires coating stacks of
several micrometer thickness which shall be stable under a number of environmental conditions most notably temperature
cycling. In addition, the size of the required optical aperture and the available geometric envelope lead to a substrate size
which needs to be compliant to the key requirements over nearly the complete diameter.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-2

2.2.1 Key Requirements
Apart from the spectral requirements on the filters, shown in Tab. 1 and Tab. 2, key requirements for the filters include

• adhesion of optical coatings to the substrate under temperature differences,

• negligible substrate deformation due to intrinsic coating stress,
• low wave-front error in transmission at 30K and 300K,
• negligible shift of transmission profile under temperature shift between 300K and 30K,
• steep transition profile from transmission to blocking ranges, and
• low micro roughness and high cleanliness to avoid straylight.

For the long-pass filters, an End of Life (EoL) Performance for transmittance T ≥ 0.8 as well as a maximal gradient of
d λ ≤ 10nm within the science region must be guaranteed. For the broadband filters, an EoL transmittance of T ≥ 0.7 is
dT 0.003

sufficient.

Rejection Region Science Region

LP-I λ ≤ 0.9µ m λ > 1µ m
LP-II λ ≤ 1.53µ m λ > 1.7µ m
LP-III λ ≤ 2.61µ m λ > 2.9µ m
LP-0.7 λ ≤ 0.6µ m λ > 0.7µ m
Table 1. Spectral Performance of the long-pass Filters.

Blue Rejection Region Science Region Red Rejection Region

BB-A λ ≤ 0.93µ m 0.99µ m < λ < 1.3µ m λ ≥ 1.38µ m
BB-B λ ≤ 0.75µ m 0.8µ m < λ < 2µ m λ ≥ 2.2µ m
Table 2. Spectral Performance of the Broadband Filters.

2.2.2 Substrate
The filter substrate material for most filters is by requirement calcium fluoride which is delicate to handle. A particular
mechanical shape was required for the filters to meet envelope requirements and almost the complete surface area must be
polished for maximum stability of the mounting interfaces. The optical surface area starts within the first millimeter from
the substrate edge. In addition, the remaining wedge of the substrate shall be smaller than 0.26arcsecs or aligned within
the mechanism to a tolerance of less than 5°.
The BK7-G18 substrates are about 10% thinner than the CaF2 substrate in order to account for the different refractive
indices and the change in optical pathlength. All substrates have been polished to be ultra-flat with a residual wedge of less
than 0.3arcsecs. The uncoated substrates generally have a wavefront-error of less than 5nm RMS in transmission over the
complete required optical aperture and a micro-roughness of less than 1.5nm RMS over a spatial frequency range of 2nm
to 2µm. These specifications are achieved by a combination of several advanced computer controlled polishing methods
followed by a final ion-beam-figuring step; a combination which was specially developed at C ARL Z EISS for the NIRS PEC
project.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-3

 Figure 2. The filter mount and its elements. One the right hand side, a breadboard filter mount is shown.

2.2.3 Mounting Concept

The mount for the filters has been designed to safely hold the substrates during launch vibrations and to maintain their
position and attitude with regard to the aperture stop of the NIRS PEC. In order to avoid straylight from the instrument
being reflected back into the NIRS PEC’s beam path, the filters are tilted by 5.3° around the x-axis towards the aperture stop
plane. Since the alignment requirements on the FWA are in the order of 3 arcmins for the filter substrates and 1 arcmin
for the aperture stop, no dedicated alignment provisions were implemented. Absolute positioning will be achieved by tight
tolerances and fits on the filter wheel disk.
The thermo-mechanical design of the filter mount is such, that the CTE differences of the substrate, the mount and the
wheel disk are compensated without leading to excessive stresses within the filter. A deformation of the filter substrate due
to mounting and cryogenic stress is allowed, as long as the deformed substrate is still a meniscus-type lens. Then, the WFE
in transmission through the substrate will stay negligible. Analyses and tests show, that there is a relation of at least 1000:1
for the surface deformation of such a substrate vs. the resulting WFE in transmission. Since this is not a linear relation,
maximum surface deformation should stay below 5µm. In addition, the balancing of the lateral and axial preloads has been
chosen such that no birefringence effects occur within the calcium fluoride substrates.Fig. 2 shows the filter mount and its
components.

2.2.4 Coating Manufacturing

The dielectric coatings of the long-pass and broadband filters have been specially developed for NIRS PEC. Our approach
to reach the required transmission specifications is based on the use of optical interference filters. Such filters consist
basically of a stack of transparent layers of alternating high and low refractive index materials, TiO 2 and SiO2 in our case.
Appropriate choice of refractive index, layer thickness and the number of layers permits the manufacture of narrow band,
wide band, cut-on or cut-off filters. The greater the ratio of the high refractive index to the low refractive index the fewer
layers are needed to obtain a given contrast. It also leads to a reduction in the number of layers which decreases the risk of
any delaminations in the stacks.
If possible, a symmetric design on both sides of the filter was chosen to reduce the resulting substrate deformation
by unbalanced stresses on both sides of the substrates and thus the risk of delamination. For the broadband filters, the
bulk material’s absorption had to be used in order to find a suitable coating design. The thickness of the layer stacks
for the filters varies between 3.4µm and 10µm while the number of individual layers on each side varies between 19 and
60. The thickness of individual layers is between a few nanometers and more than 100nm. The spectral performance of
the filter requires very tight tolerances for the thickness of the complete layer stack and the individual layers. By using
both optical monitoring systems and oscillating quartz crystals, the absolute thickness could be controlled to less than
1.5%. For maximum adhesion and layer compactness an advanced plasma source deposition technique was used. The high
compactness of the layers reached by this technique also minimizes the effect of water absorption within the coating stack.

2.3 Calibration and Closed Position Mirror

On one position, the FWA carries a calibration and closed position mirror (CAL3 and CPM) which serves both to reflect the
NIRS PEC’s calibration source into the beam path and to close the instrument from the telescope’s beam. The CAL3 and
CPM are spherical mirrors which are tilted and decentered with respect to each other. The radius of curvature is 1095mm
for the CPM and 1800mm for the CAL3. In addition, the closed position mirror carries a pupil alignment reference
(PAR) which is on a recessed, plane, decentered and non-tangential surface to the spherical CPM. Due to the thermal and
vibrational stress on the mechanism which needs to be supported by the optical elements and the geometrical constraints –

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-4

 GALS - F'flA STOP

GAL STOP

ORP

L.

(a) (b)
Figure 3. (a): CAL3 and CPM with respect to each other (courtesy of EADS Astrium GmbH), (b): Recessed plane PAR mirror in CPM

CPM and CAL3 vertices are merely 10mm apart – both mirrors will have to be manufactured on the same wedged substrate.
The recessed PAR mirror carries an additional reference mark, which shall have high contrast at 1.9µm wavelength. The
PAR serves as the master reference frame for the FWA mechanism.
All three elements must be precisely aligned with respect to each other. The required accuracies are in the 0.1mm and
2 arcmin range. In addition, both CPM and CAL3 mirror have dedicated aperture stops positioned closely in front of their
optical surface.Fig. 3 shows a cross section through the element for illustration purposes.
Wavefront error and optical cleanliness are less critical for the CPM mirror than for the CAL3, as the CPM only reflects
the incoming beam back into the FORE optics of NIRS PEC. The substrate material is radiation hardened BK7-G18, as it
allows to reuse part of the design principle for the mount from the broadband filters.

2.3.1 Manufacturing Technologies

The single substrate for CAL3 and CPM and the requirement absolute alignment of the mirrors towards each other proved
to be a major manufacturing issue. Also, the polished but recessed plane mirror in the spherical CPM make manufacturing
difficult. Therefore, a three step manufacturing approach was chosen:

1. Machining of the outer substrate interface to the mount

2. Manual polishing of the CPM and CAL3 mirrors
3. Machining and polishing of the recessed PAR segment

Afterwards, the substrate will be gold-coated on both sides and the pupil reference mark is lithographically applied to the
C ARL Z EISS CZ310 protected gold mirror. A photo of the pupil reference frame can be seen in Fig. 4b.

2.3.2 Mounting Concept

The mounting concept of the CAL3 / CPM element is quite similar to the one used on the filter mounts. Fig. 4a shows an
overview of the mount and its components.

CALS Stop

FWA Stop CALS Morror with PAR

(a) (b)
Figure 4. CAL3 and CPM mirror in its mount (a) and a photograph of the pupil alignment reference mark (PAR), (b). The round spots
in the upper right corner are artefacts.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-5

 3. THE OPTICAL ELEMENTS OF THE GRATING WHEEL ASSEMBLY
3.1 Overview
The Grating Wheel Assembly (GWA) comprises eight optical elements:

• Six diffraction gratings,

• One prism, and
• One Target Acquisition Mirror (TAM).

Because the GWA carries reflection optics, the grating wheel mechanism accuracy and alignment accuracy requirements
are typically more stringent than the FWA’s. Angular alignment must be adjusted to 30 arcsecs within nominal position.
Due to the optical design of the NIRS PEC, any surface deformation of the dispersion gratings or the prism contributes
directly to the instrument’s wave-front and cannot be corrected afterwards. 3

3.2 Gratings
The NIRS PEC’s key functionality is provided by the six gratings. In order to achieve the required functionality, mechan-
ically ruled and blazed gratings have been chosen. The gratings have been manufactured by C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS’s
own grating laboratory.
3.2.1 Key Requirements
The total WFE contribution caused by the dispersion gratings shall be smaller than 16 nm RMS. While the grating surface
is flat by design it shall maintain its shape accurately during temperature cycling. In addition, the grating constant shall
stay constant over temperature and the dispersion efficiency shall be maximized. The straylight of the gratings must
be closely controlled to meet the very stringent BRDF requirement. Because a number of coatings are applied to the
grating substrates during manufacturing accurate management of coating stress and material parameters is mandatory. The
diffractive parameters of the gratings are given in Tab. 3.

g [mm−1 ] α [deg] λc [µ m] Emin [%] E [%] γ [deg]

GRA 1000-I 95.4035 3.5 1.4 ≥ 64.1 ≥ 77.8 4.200
GRA 1000-II 56.8767 3.65 2.35 ≥ 65.5 ≥ 78.8 4.203
GRA 1000-III 33.8221 3.65 3.95 ≥ 66.6 ≥ 79.6 4.101
GRA 3000-I 252.267 9.5 1.4 ≥ 64.0 ≥ 80.0 8.803
GRA 3000-II 150.291 9.7 2.35 ≥ 66.0 ≥ 79.0 8.754
GRA 3000-III 89.4088 9.9 3.95 ≥ 68.5 ≥ 79.8 8.801
Table 3. Grating parameters for the six NIRS PEC gratings: groove density g, blaze angle α , center wavelength λc , minimum efficiency
Emin , average efficiency E, tilt angle γ . For the R = 1000 gratings, the anti-blaze angle β needs to larger than 40°, for the R = 3000
gratings, β needs to be larger than 60° in order to achieve the required efficiency.

3.2.2 Substrate
The grating substrate is made from Z ERODUR for its low expansion under temperature shift from ambient to cryogenic
temperature which shall provide for similar grating dispersion properties at both temperatures, i.e. for test and operation
in space. All gratings shall be realized on similar substrates. Substrates differ by their optical and mechanical metrology
interfaces which must be properly tilted in order to observe them under a single attitude during the assembly level align-
ment test campaign at operational temperature in the cryostat. The proper orientation of the optical components in the
NIRS PEC beam path is realized by proper orientation of the mounting interface on the grating wheel disk. For alignment
measurements on ground, each grating substrate carries two lateral alignment mirrors. The grating surface is polished to
about 5nm RMS and a micro-roughness of less than 0.7nm RMS. Fig. 5c shows the substrate. The required free aperture
of the gratings and the TAM is about 70 × 70mm 2 and has rounded corners with a radius of 19mm. The grating’s optical
area covers almost the complete surface of the substrate and oversize must be managed down to the tenth of a millimeter.
The mass of the substrate is about 120g.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-6

 —I
Alignmentball Cratingmount
base plate
4
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 5. Cross section through mount with substrate (a), mounted breadboard grating (b) during vibration testing, and grating substrate
with lateral alignment marks (c).

3.2.3 Mounting Concept

The grating mount is made from Titanium alloy TiAl6V4 which provides an intermediate CTE between the Aluminium
alloy material of the grating wheel structure and the nearly zero expansion of the Z ERODUR material of the grating sub-
strate. The substrate is held by membranes and centered by three sapphire alignment balls, cf. Fig. 5a. Adjusting screws
were implemented on the grating mount in order to correct the alignment error between the optical components of the after
assembly down to less than 30 arcsec at operational temperature. By structural design, the mechanical stress in the optical
mount resulting from different alignment states of the screws shall not significantly influence the WFE of the optics. Fig.
5b depicts the a breadboard substrate in a breadboard mount.

3.2.4 Grating Manufacturing Technologies

The NIRS PEC gratings are mechanically ruled at C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS using a custom built ruling machine. Mechan-
ical ruling is the classical ruling technique for manufacturing blazed gratings. Ruling is done in a metal film evaporated
on the substrate. The process used for ruling is soft plastic deformation. A diamond tool of triangular shape is used for
the ruling process. The ruling process and the grating constant are under interferometric control. A special dry ruling
technique without lubricant is used and there is thus no danger of contaminating the grating by organic contamination.
This is a proven technique for the manufacturing synchrotron gratings which operate under VHV conditions and for space
gratings.
After the ruling of the grating into a ruling film, ion beam etching is used to transfer the groove profile into the
Z ERODUR substrate. By using this technique, it is possible to transform the grating structure into the blank material
without losing the general triangular saw-tooth shape and to achieve very small blaze angles. After groove profile has
been transferred into the substrate, a reflective gold mirror coating is applied. For NIRS PEC, the rounded corners of
the substrate and the very tight tolerances requiring ruling basically up to the last millimeter of the substrate were major
challenges which had to be overcome.

3.3 Target Acquisition Mirror

The target acquisition mirror (TAM) is used together with the broadband filters on the FWA. Its size, optical requirements
and substrate are nearly identical to the grating substrate before the actual grating is manufactured. The TAM also serves
as the master reference frame for the GWA mechanism. All other optical elements are aligned to its position at cryo.

3.4 Prism
The NIRS PEC uses a CaF2 -prism for low resolution (R = 100) spectral observation over its complete wavelength range
between 600nm and 5µm. The optical aperture for the prism is 80 × 80mm 2 and the substrate itself weighs about 280g.
Due to its operational mode, the prism carries a protected silver coating on its backside which reflects the light back into
the substrate.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-7

3.4.1 Key Requirements
The prism’s high mass and its soft and fragile material limits the allowable stress on the substrate. In addition, the mechan-
ical access to the prism is limited, as there is only about 2mm additional envelope on both sides of the prism besides the
optically required free aperture. Prism front and backside are of different size and laterally displaced, making the prism
substrate completely unsymmetrical. The required WFE is about 60nm RMS in transmission. Due to its large mass in
comparison to the other optical elements on the GWA, the wheel structure must be properly balanced to reach a CoG on
the axis of rotation. Also, due to the high mass maintaining the required alignment accuracies – which are in the order of 1
arcmin – during vibration and at cryogenic temperatures is a major design driver. Other critical requirements even if lower
level requirements are taken into account as for example stability under fast cool-down rates.
3.4.2 Mounting Concept
The prism mount has a rectangular shape, is made from Titanium alloy and comprises a kinematic structure to reduce
propagation of thermal strain from the (Aluminium) wheel structure to the prism component. The prism is held by two
axial membranes which clamp the prism on an outer rim. Lateral positioning is provided by four sapphire hemispheres
residing in ball seats on the four corners of the substrate, cf. Fig. 6a. The hemispheres are pressed against the substrate
by two lateral, kinematic clamping bars, which provided the necessary preload and the CTE relief in one go, cf. Fig. 6c.
By using this technique, the mount essentially reduces its preload at cryogenic temperature. This allows for a better WFE
performance at operational temperatures and for secure mounting during launch (at ambient temperatures). In order to test
this setup, a breadboard mount was built, Fig. 6b. The characterization of the mount is still ongoing.

'-I

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 6. The NIRS PEC prism (a), the prism in a breadboard mount (b) during WFE testing, and a schematic drawing of the prism
mount (c).

4. TEST AND QUALIFICATION

4.1 Overview
Test and qualification efforts are currently underway. By July 2008, the critical design review will be held and the major
performance requirements shall be demonstrated on breadboard and/or qualification level. Major tests for the optical
components include

• interferometric testing at ambient and cryogenic temperature,

• vibration testing at qualification level,
• spectral testing at ambient and cryogenic temperature,
• straylight testing for the gratings,
• adhesion testing before and after cryogenic cycling, and
• spectral transmissivity testing before and after irradiation.

In order to safeguard time and to ease the testing setup, tests will be performed as early as possible and on sub-component
level, where suitable. This means, e.g., that all WFE testing is performed on optical mount level only. This requires,
that the mount is suitably decoupled from any higher-level influences and that its WFE performance can be measured in a
representative way.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-8

 Figure 7. The setup for interferometric testing of the optical components at liquid helium temperature.

I
(a) 290nm RMS (b) 120 nm RMS (c) 6nm RMS, 34nm P-V (d) 4nm RMS, 29nm P-V
Figure 8. Interferograms for the BB-A filter: (a) Room temperature, in reflection; (b) LHe temperature, in reflection; (c) Room tempera-
ture, in transmission; (d) LHe temperature, in transmission. The same colour scale is used for all interferograms.

4.2 Interferometric Testing

The compliance to the WFE requirements of the FWA and GWA components needs to be shown. For this, a test setup
using a C ARL Z EISS D100 interferometer for 632nm and, alternatively, a FISBA interferometer for 1064nm was devised.
The setup can be used for ambient and cryogenic measurements. For this, the setup includes a small cryostat, CryoS, which
can hold the substrate under test. Fig. 6b shows the ambient setup, Fig. 7 illustrates the CryoS-setup. The setup has been
optimized in such a way, that the influence of the cryostat onto the measurement results can be neglected.

4.2.1 WFE Testing of Filter Mounts

The filter mounts have been assembled and tested at ambient and cryogenic temperatures using the CryoS-test setup. Since
the filters do not transmit at 632nm, the FISBA interferometer with an operating wavelength of 1064nm had to be used. In
Fig. 8, it can be seen that the requirement of 22nm RMS in transmission at cryogenic temperature is well met, even for an
unsymmetrical filter design such as the BB-A. It can also be seen, that the expected meniscus-effect mentioned above, cf.
§2.2.3, holds true: the WFE in reflection is not relevant for the WFE in transmission. The remaining WFE in transmission
is basically identical to the WFE of the uncoated substrate.

4.2.2 WFE Testing of Grating Mount

The wave front error of the grating mount is more critical. Currently, the wavefront error of the grating does not yet meet
the requirement of 15.8nm RMS at cryogenic temperatures. Breadboard testing is still ongoing and up-to-date results will
be presented in the presentation during the conference.

4.2.3 WFE Testing of Prism Mount

By design, the prism mount shows a preload-reduction effect from ambient to cryogenic temperatures. This effect is due to
the different CTE of the substrate and mount material. Because of complicated manufacturing, a fully flight representative
prism mount made from Titanium alloy is not available for breadboard testing. Instead, an all-Aluminium mount was built,
which exhibits the same preload at ambient. In this breadboard mount, the CTE relation between substrate and mount
are reversed in comparison to the flight mount. Therefore, the preload conditions of the flight hardware at operational

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-9

 Figure 9. The Wave-Front-Error of the NIRS PEC prism at ambient temperatures (breadboard design)

conditions can only be simulated, if the breadboard is heated from ambient to an elevated temperature. This “inverse-
cryo-test” is currently being under preparation and shall be completed until CDR. The current ambient performance of the
mount measured with the test setup from Fig. 6b is shown in Fig. 9. Further optimizations are ongoing.

4.3 Vibration Testing

Structural analyzes determined the three-σ loads on the optical elements of the FWA and GWA to be between 90 and 120 g-
RMS. While the FWA mounts hold their elements by form fit, the GWA optical elements are – due to envelope restrictions
– held by friction only. Therefore, the friction coefficient for the relevant material properties was a major uncertainty and
had to be measured well prior design completion.
Breadboarding was therefore aimed at confirming the measurements and validating the assumptions of the design. At
the date of writing, all optical elements with exception of the prism have been vibration tested. All elements survived
qualification loads without problems. Before and after each vibration run, WFE and alignment were measured. Additional
proof-loading was carried out to +3dB and in some configurations even to +6dB levels. No significant deterioration of the
performance in terms of WFE, alignment and structural integrity was found. Also, no sign of abrasion was found within
the mounts relying on friction only. Therefore, the vibration testing campaign is considered successful.

4.4 Spectral Testing

Beside the metal mirrors for TAM, gratings, CAL3, CPM and prism which behaved in their spectral performance as ex-
pected from the physical properties of the employed metals, the spectral transmissivity of the filters’ dielectric coatings
had to be measured both at ambient and at operational temperature. For this, special qualification samples were manufac-
tured and measured at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. The setup is shown in Fig. 10a. It comprises a

0,008

0006 299 KIVIS 201107040161107)

006(010100007 660 0900 07)
1P700 )e0003f), Ref CCF2
0,0 —299 OWlS 20ff 07 Ref f6 ff07) 0004
300 7dfSf800.07 Ref f90607)
— 0,4
0,002
0,2

0000

400 600 600 1000 1200

f000 2000

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 10. Spectral testing setup for ambient and cryogenic testing at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (a), spectral
behavior of the LP-0.7 filter at ambient and cryogenic temperature (b) & (c). The dashed line in (b) & (c) denominates the transmission
requirement. Values larger than 100% for the transmission are due to calibration issues using different calibration reference mirrors for
cryo and ambient. The resulting effect has been numerically corrected.

closed-cycle cryostat with IR transparent windows and vacuum pump which is integrated into the spectrometer setup in
order to perform the transmission test at cryo temperature. Two spectrometers, a UV-VIS-NIR Spectrometer made by Shi-
madzu covering the spectral range 0.19
m – 3.2
m, and a Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectrometer made by B RUKER,
covering the spectral range 1.5
m – 25
m, were used.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-10

 Initially, the assumption was that the CTE shrinkage of the very closely controlled controlled individual layers within
the dielectric coating stacks could change the spectral behavior of the complete coating. However, after the tests were
made, this could not be confirmed. Instead, there was no significant change in transmission detected. Fig. 10b and Fig.
10c show a measurement performed on the LP-0.7.

4.5 Straylight Testing of Gratings

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of a GRA-1000-III breadboard grating (cf. Tab. 3) was mea-
sured at the ESTEC laboratories. The setup used a wavelength of 632.8 nm with an illumination angle of incidence of
4.1° for the dispersion direction and 16° for the cross-dispersion direction. The angular setup relates to the operational
conditions within the instrument. For easier measurement, the required straylight at operational wavelengths was scaled
down to 632.8nm by using a λ 2 - law. The measurement results can be seen in Fig. 11: the ratio of peak intensity to the
background is 5420:1 for the first diffraction order and the measured diffraction directions in angular space are in line with
the theoretical predictions. Fig. 12 shows N OMARSKI-contrast pictures of the grooves at various magnifications.

7 6
10 10
0
6
10 1 X: −0.005 4
10
Y: 1.744e+006
X: −1.265
5 Y: 5.684e+004
10 −1 2
Cosine corrected BRDF [sr −1]

10

]
X: −2.495

−1
X: −3.755 Y: 9995 X: 1.235

Cosine corrected BRDF [sr

4
10 Y: 5140 Y: 5112
0
10
X: 3.715
3
10 Y: 561.6

−2
10
2
10
X: 2.545
Y: 10.21 −4
1 10
10

0 −6
10 10

−1
10 −8
10
−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5 −60 −40 −20 0 20 40 60
Detector Angle [deg] Detector Angle [deg]

(a) Dispersion direction, angle of incidence -4.1° (b) Cross dispersion, angle of incidence 16°
Figure 11. BRDF in dispersion and cross dispersion direction.

(a) 5x magnification (b) 50x magnification (c) 100x magnification

Figure 12. The grooves of a breadboard grating GRA-1000-III under a N OMARSKI contrast microscope.

Generally, the straylight performance of the breadboard grating is considered exceptionally good for a mechanically
ruled grating. Nevertheless, the extrapolated straylight requirement at 632nm is not completely met. However, the grating’s
straylight is expected to be much better in their respective wavelength bands. Also it is still not completely clear, whether
the extrapolation of the BRDF from IR wavelengths to 632nm using the λ 2 - law is realistic or too conservative. Experience
at C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS with older gratings shows a λ 3.5 -relation for the straylight to be more accurate. In such a
case, the BRDF would be compliant to the specification. A measurement setup with suitable accuracy at IR wavelengths
is, however, currently not available.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7018 701822-11

4.6 Other Tests
As mentioned above, major prerequisites for a successful qualification of the optical elements are the coating adhesion at
operational temperature and their resistivity against radiation. While the former can be tested by using tape tests immedi-
ately after coating and – even better – after extensive thermal-vacuum cycling the latter cannot be achieved by design. Due
to NIRS PEC’s lightweight design, no dedicated irradiation cover is provided for the instrument and an equally distributed
proton influx must be assumed from all sides besides the instruments base-plate. For obvious reasons, the optical elements
cannot be covered completely covered, so their degradation under irradiation must be accepted. In order to quantify such
a degradation effect, all optical coatings are being irradiated with a total integrated dose of 400kRad of protons. From
literature and a preceding radiation analysis, the expected effects are in the order of 3% transmissivity loss, mainly due to
a change in transmissivity of the bulk material. To accommodate for these values, the coating design was optimized for
maximal transmittance at begin of life. Actual radiation testing is currently ongoing. Results are expected by mid of the
2008.

5. CONCLUSION & OUTLOOK

In this paper, an overview on the design and qualification testing of the optical elements of the NIRS PEC filter and grating
wheel mechanisms has been given. Key requirements for each optical elements were presented. An overview over the most
important test and manufacturing technologies was given. It was shown, that the design has matured and that the critical
design review can take place as planned in July 2008. Manufacturing of long-lead items for the GWA and FWA Assembly
Qualification Models (AQM) is currently in progress. Component level optical qualification tests and breadboards are close
to completion.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The presented work is the result of the recent work performed at C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS GmbH, mso jena Mikroschich-
toptik GmbH, and C ARL Z EISS AG.
The authors would like to thank all people who have participated in the NIRS PEC mechanism project, especially the
AIV team at C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the laboratories at
ESTEC for the straylight measurements on the gratings and the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg for the
transmission test at cryogenic temperatures. Special thanks goes to the people at C ARL Z EISS O PTRONICS’s gratings
laboratories, the manufacturing departments of mso jena, C ARL Z EISS in Oberkochen and Jena who cannot be mentioned
here but without whose support the optical elements of the GWA and FWA could have never been made and tested.

REFERENCES
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[4] Weidlich, K., Ellenrieder, M., et al., “Breadboard testing for the JWST NIRSpec grating and filter wheels,” in [Proc.
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