METIS, an advanced mid-infrared imager and spectrograph for the wavelength range 2.9-13.5 microns, stands as one of the three science instruments at the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Within the collaborative international METIS consortium, the University of Cologne is responsible for the design, manufacturing, and integration of the Warm Calibration Unit (WCU) of the instrument. The main role of WCU is to provide a stable and controllable reference signal to METIS that will allow troubleshooting and calibrating the response of METIS in various observing modes. In this talk, I will present an overview of its optical and opto-mechanical design, and functional role within the instrument, followed by the current status of the Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration, and Testing (MAIT) phase.
In the latter part of my talk, I will highlight my previous involvement in FOSC (Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera) instrumentation for Mount Abu Infrared Observatory (MIRO). In this context, I will present the development of MFOSC-P, an imager and low-resolution spectrograph for PRL 1.2m telescope. I will also present the optical design of the next-generation instrument for PRL 2.5m telescope, MFOSC-EP, an Echelle spectro-polarimeter, summarizing efforts to overcome some of the challenging design problems.
Dr. Vipin Kumar is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cologne, Germany, where he is involved in the development of the Warm Calibration Unit (WCU), a subsystem of the METIS instrument for the upcoming 39m European Extremely Large Telescope. He completed his PhD in 2022 from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, where he worked on the MFOSC-P instrument for PRL 1.2m telescope. Additionally, he contributed to the optical design of the next-generation spectro-polarimeters for PRL telescopes. His research interests lie in Optical/IR astronomical instrumentation for ground-based telescopes. His scientific focus includes the study of cool, low-mass stars.