Michelle Filters

A list of the Michelle broad and narrow-band filters is presented here. Since the filter wheel is common to both the imaging and the spectroscopic light paths the filters are available in both modes. Transmission data are available for some filters, as indicated. There is room for a total of ~25 filters in the Michelle dewar, so more filters will be added in the future.

Note that imaging is not available through the broad band N and Q filters, because the sky+telescope background saturates the detector in less than the shortest possible exposure time. The Q' filter may be useful under exceptional conditions - please contact Gemini staff for advice if you would like to use this filter. The N', Qa and narrowband filters are available for general imaging use.

For spectroscopy the LP-7 filter outperforms the N filter at wavelengths shorter than 8.0um and longer than 13.0um. The N filter has slightly higher transmittance than LP-7 over most of the interval between 8.0um and 13.0um.

Current Michelle Filter Complement¹

Filter Name	Name in Headers ^a	Central Wavelength (microns)	Bandwidth (microns)	Approximate 50% power points (microns)	Transmission Data (text)	Transmission Curves (jpeg)	Currently Available
Mediumband and Broadband Filters
N'	I112B21	11.2	2.4	10.1 - 12.5			Yes
Qa	I185B9	18.1	1.9	17.13 - 19.06			Yes
Q'	I198B27	19.8	5.4	17.1 - 22.5	-	-	Yes^b
N	I105B53	10.5	5.3	7.7 - 13.0			Yes^b
Q	I209B42	20.9	8.8	16.5 - 25.3			Yes^b
Qsort		18.0	4.0	16.0 - 20.0	-	-	on order
Qc		24.5	0.85	24.05 - 24.9	-	-	on order
Silicate Filters
Si-1	I79B10	7.7	0.7	7.39 - 8.08			Yes^c
Si-2	I88B10	8.8	0.9	8.35 - 9.25			Yes
Si-3 ^d	I97B10	9.7	1.0	9.2 - 10.2			Yes
Si-4^d	I103B10	10.3	1.0	9.8 - 10.8			Yes
Si-5	I116B9	11.6	1.1	11.15 - 12.25			Yes
Si-6	I125B9	12.5	1.2	11.9 - 13.1			Yes
Si-7		13.2	1.0	12.7 - 13.7	-	-	on order
Longpass Filters for 10um and 20um Spectroscopy
LP-7	Nblock	-	-	6.8 - >14	-	-	Yes
LP-16	Qblock	-	-	16.1 - >25	-	-	Yes

¹Other filters exist (including a NeII narrow-band filter) but have leaks which need blocking before they can be used for science.
^a Value of "FILTER" keyword in Michelle file headers. Indicates approximate central wavelength and bandwith (e.g., I116B9 is centred at 11.6 microns with a 9% bandwidth)
^b Unavailable for imaging due to array saturation on sky + telescope background
^c The transmission data for Si-1 are for the TReCS filter but are also applicable to Michelle (the Michelle and T-ReCS filters are from the same manufacturer and operate at approximately the same temperature)
^d These filters used to have a small long-wavelength leak that was fixed during semester 2005B by inserting BaF₂ blocking elements (which were already in place in the other silicate filters). The effect on photometry of sources with T>140K (N-Q<-4) was negligible.

Last update September 16, 2007; R. Mason