• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.108-115
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• 2017

We report the assembly procedure and performance evaluation of a visible and near-infrared spectrometer in the wavelength region of 400-900 nm, which is later to be combined with fore-optics (a telescope) to form a f/2.5 imaging spectrometer with a field of view of ${\pm}7.68^{\circ}$. The detector at the final image plane is a $640{\times}480$ charge-coupled device with a $24{\mu}m$ pixel size. The spectrometer is in an Offner relay configuration consisting of two concentric, spherical mirrors, the secondary of which is replaced by a convex grating mirror. A double-pass test method with an interferometer is often applied in the assembly process of precision optics, but was excluded from our study due to a large residual wavefront error (WFE) in optical design of 210 nm ($0.35{\lambda}$ at 600 nm) root-mean-square (RMS). This results in a single-path test method with a Shack-Hartmann sensor. The final assembly was tested to have a RMS WFE increase of less than 90 nm over the entire field of view, a keystone of 0.08 pixels, a smile of 1.13 pixels and a spectral resolution of 4.32 nm. During the procedure, we confirmed the validity of using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor to monitor alignment in the assembly of an Offner-like spectrometer.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.34.3-34.3
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• 2020

Faint z ~ 5 quasars with M1450 ~ -23 mag are known to be the potentially important contributors to the ultraviolet ionizing background in the post-reionization era. However, their number density has not been well determined, making it difficult to assess their role in the early ionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM). In this work, we present the updated results of our z ~ 5 quasar survey using the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS), a near-infrared imaging survey covering an area of 85 square degrees. From our spectroscopic observations with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini-South 8 m Telescope, we discovered eight new quasars at z ~ 5 with -26.1 ≤ M1450 ≤ -23.3. Combining our IMS faint quasars with the brighter Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars, we derive, for the first time, the z ~ 5 quasar luminosity function (QLF) without any fixed parameters down to the magnitude limit of M1450 = -23 mag. We find that the faint-end slope of the QLF is very flat (-1.2) with a characteristic luminosity of -25.7 mag. The number density of z ~ 5 quasars from the QLF gives lower ionizing emissivity and ionizing photon density than those in previous works. These results imply that quasars are responsible for only 10-20% of the photons required to completely ionize the IGM at z ~ 5, disfavoring the idea that quasars alone could have ionized the IGM at z ~ 5.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.63-64
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• 1996

The nature of distant faint blue field galaxies remains a mystery, despite the fact that much attention has been devoted to this subject in the last decade. Galaxy counts, particularly those in the optical and near ultraviolet bandpasses, have been demonstrated to be well in excess of those expected in the 'no-evolution' scenario. This has usually been taken to imply that galaxies were brighter in the past, presumably due to a higher rate of star formation. More recently, redshift surveys of galaxies as faint as B$\~$24 have shown that the mean redshift of faint blue galaxies is lower than that predicted by standard evolutionary models (de-signed to fit the galaxy counts). The galaxy number count data and redshift data suggest that evolutionary effects are most prominent at the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. While these data constrain the form of evolution of the overall luminosity function, they do not constrain evolution in individual galaxies. We are carrying out a series of observations as part of a long-term program aimed at a better understanding of the nature and amount of luminosity evolution in individual galaxies. Our study uses the luminosity-linewidth relation (Tully-Fisher relation) for disk galaxies as a tool to study luminosity evolution. Several studies of a related nature are being carried out by other groups. A specific experiment to test a 'no-evolution' hypothesis is presented here. We have used the AUTOFIB multifibre spectro-graph on the 4-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) and the Rutgers Fabry-Perot imager on the Cerro Tolalo lnteramerican Observatory (CTIO) 4-metre tele-scope to measure the internal kinematics of a representative sample of faint blue field galaxies in the red-shift range z = 0.15-0.4. The emission line profiles of [OII] and [OIII] in a typical sample galaxy are significantly broader than the instrumental resolution (100-120 km $s^{-l}$), and it is possible to make a reliable de-termination of the linewidth. Detailed and realistic simulations based on the properties of nearby, low-luminosity spirals are used to convert the measured linewidth into an estimate of the characteristic rotation speed, making statistical corrections for the effects of inclination, non-uniform distribution of ionized gas, rotation curve shape, finite fibre aperture, etc.. The (corrected) mean characteristic rotation speed for our distant galaxy sample is compared to the mean rotation speed of local galaxies of comparable blue luminosity and colour. The typical galaxy in our distant sample has a B-band luminosity of about 0.25 L$\ast$ and a colour that corresponds to the Sb-Sd/Im range of Hub-ble types. Details of the AUTOFIB fibre spectroscopic study are described by Rix et al. (1996). Follow-up deep near infrared imaging with the 10-metre Keck tele-scope+ NIRC combination and high angular resolution imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope's WFPC2 are being used to determine the structural and orientation parameters of galaxies on an individual basis. This information is being combined with the spatially resolved CTIO Fabry-Perot data to study the internal kinematics of distant galaxies (Ing et al. 1996). The two main questions addressed by these (preliminary studies) are: 1. Do galaxies of a given luminosity and colour have the same characteristic rotation speed in the distant and local Universe? The distant galaxies in our AUTOFIB sample have a mean characteristic rotation speed of $\~$70 km $s^{-l}$ after correction for measurement bias (Fig. 1); this is inconsistent with the characteristic rotation speed of local galaxies of comparable photometric proper-ties (105 km $s^{-l}$) at the > $99\%$ significance level (Fig. 2). A straightforward explanation for this discrepancy is that faint blue galaxies were about 1-1.5 mag brighter (in the B band) at z $\~$ 0.25 than their present-day counterparts. 2. What is the nature of the internal kinematics of faint field galaxies? The linewidths of these faint galaxies appear to be dominated by the global disk rotation. The larger galaxies in our sample are about 2"-.5" in diameter so one can get direct insight into the nature of their internal velocity field from the $\~$ I" seeing CTIO Fabry-Perot data. A montage of Fabry-Perot data is shown in Fig. 3. The linewidths are too large (by. $5\sigma$) to be caused by turbulence in giant HII regions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.27.1-27.1
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• 2008

KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) is developing a compact wide-field survey space telescope system, MIRIS (The Multi-purpose IR Imaging System) to be launched in 2010 as the main payload of the Korea Science and Technology Satellite 3. Through recent System Design Review (SDR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR), most of the system design concept was reviewed and confirmed. The near IR imaging system adopted short F/2 optics for wide field low resolution observation at wavelength band 0.9~2.0 um minimizing the effect of attitude control system. The mechanical system is composed of a cover, baffle, optics, and detector system using a $256\times256$ Teledyne PICNIC FPA providing a $3.67\times3.67$ degree field of view with a pixel scale of 51.6 arcsec. We designed a support system to minimize heat transfer with Muti-Layer Insulation. The electronics of the MIRIS system is composed of 7 boards including DSP, control, SCIF. Particular attention is being paid to develop mission operation scenario for space observation to minimize IR background radiation from the Earth and Sun. The scientific purpose of MIRIS is to survey the Galactic plane in the emission line of Pa$\alpha$ ($1.88{\mu}m$) and to detect the cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation. The CIB is being suspected to be originated from the first generation stars of the Universe and we will test this hypothesis by comparing the fluctuations in I (0.9~1.2 um) and H (1.2~2.0 um) bands to search the red shifted Lyman cutoff signature.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2016

Multiple color selection techniques are successful in identifying quasars from wide-field broadband imaging survey data. Among the quasars that have been discovered so far, however, there is a redshift gap at 5 ≲ z ≲ 5.7 due to the limitations of filter sets in previous studies. In this work, we present a new selection technique of high redshift quasars using a sequence of medium-band filters: nine filters with central wavelengths from 625 to 1025 nm and bandwidths of 50 nm. Photometry with these medium-bands traces the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a source, similar to spectroscopy with resolution R ~ 15. By conducting medium-band observations of high redshift quasars at 4.7 ≤ z ≤ 6.0 and brown dwarfs (the main contaminants in high redshift quasar selection) using the SED camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the 2.1-m telescope at the McDonald Observatory, we show that these medium-band filters are superior to multi-color broad-band color section in separating high redshift quasars from brown dwarfs. In addition, we show that redshifts of high redshift quasars can be determined to an accuracy of Δz/(1 + z) = 0.002 - 0.026. The selection technique can be extended to z ~ 7, suggesting that the medium-band observation can be powerful in identifying quasars even at the re-ionization epoch.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.44.3-45
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• 2017

To date, luminous quasars at z ~ 6 have been found to be in maximal accretion with the Eddington ratios, ${\lambda}Edd$ ~ 1, suggesting enhanced nuclear activities in the early universe. However, this may not be the whole picture of supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth since previous studies have not reached on faint quasars that are more likely to harbor SMBHs with low ${\lambda}Edd$. To understand the accretion activities in quasars at high redshift, we obtained the deep near-infrared (NIR) spectrum of a quasar, IMS J2204+0112, one of the few faintest quasars that have been identified at z ~ 6. From the NIR spectrum, we find that IMS J2204+0112 harbors a SMBH with about a billion solar mass, with ${\log}({\lambda}Edd)=-0.91$. This is the lowest accretion rate found so far for quasars at z ~ 6, but a common value among quasars at z ~ 2. The inclusion of this object in the ${\lambda}Edd$ analysis gives the intrinsic ${\lambda}Edd$ distribution of z ~ 6 quasars, which is lower than previous results that are based on bright quasars, but it is still higher than ${\lambda}Edd$ of z ~ 2 quasars. Although the number statistics needs to be improved in future, the low peak ${\lambda}Edd$ value is consistent with the SMBH growth from a massive black hole seed (~ 105 Msun) or from a stellar mass black hole through short-duration super-Eddington accretion events (${\lambda}Edd$ > 10).

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.174-181
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• 2011

An airborne sensor is developed for remote sensing on an aerial vehicle (UV). The sensor is an optical payload for an eletro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) dual band camera that combines visible and IR imaging capabilities in a compact and lightweight package. It adopts a Ritchey-Chr$\'{e}$tien telescope for the common front end optics with several relay optics that divide and deliver EO and IR bands to a charge-coupled-device (CCD) and an IR detector, respectively. The EO/IR camera for dual bands is mounted on a two-axis gimbal that provides stabilized imaging and precision pointing in both the along and cross-track directions. We first investigate the mechanical deformations, displacements and stress of the EO/IR camera through finite element analysis (FEA) for five cases: three gravitational effects and two thermal conditions. For investigating gravitational effects, one gravitational acceleration (1 g) is given along each of the +x, +y and +z directions. The two thermal conditions are the overall temperature change to $30^{\circ}C$ from $20^{\circ}C$ and the temperature gradient across the primary mirror pupil from $-5^{\circ}C$ to $+5^{\circ}C$. Optical performance, represented by the modulation transfer function (MTF), is then predicted by integrating the FEA results into optics design/analysis software. This analysis shows the IR channel can sustain imaging performance as good as designed, i.e., MTF 38% at 13 line-pairs-per-mm (lpm), with refocus capability. Similarly, the EO channel can keep the designed performance (MTF 73% at 27.3 lpm) except in the case of the overall temperature change, in which the EO channel experiences slight performance degradation (MTF 16% drop) for $20^{\circ}C$ overall temperate change.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2015

The physical and chemical properties of prestellar cores, especially massive ones, are still far from being well understood due to the lack of a large sample. The low dust temperature (< 14 K) of Planck cold clumps makes them promising candidates for prestellar objects or for sources at the very initial stages of protostellar collapse. We have been conducting a series of observations toward Planck cold clumps (PCCs) with ground-based radio telescopes. In general, when compared with other star forming samples (e.g. infrared dark clouds), PCCs are more quiescent, suggesting that most of them may be in the earliest phase of star formation. However, some PCCs are associated with protostars and molecular outflows, indicating that not all PCCs are in a prestellar phase. We have identified hundreds of starless dense clumps from a mapping survey with the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7-m telescope. Follow-up observations suggest that these dense clumps are ideal targets to search for prestellar objects.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.113.1-113.1
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• 2012

The characteristics of Doppler shifts in a quiet region of the Sun are investigated by comparing between the $H{\alpha}$ line and the Caii infrared line at 854.2 nm. A small area of $16^{\prime\prime}{\times}40^{\prime\prime}$ was observed for about half an hour with the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) of the 1.6 meter New Solar Telescope (NST) at Big Bear Solar Observatory. The observed area contains a network region and an internetwork region, and identified in the network region are $H{\alpha}$ fibrils, Caii fibrils and bright points. We infer the Doppler velocity from each line profile at a point with the lambdameter method as a function of half wavelength separation ${\Delta}{\lambda}$. It is confirmed that the bisector of the spatially-averaged Caii line profile has an inverse C-shape of with a significant peak redshift of +1.8 km/s. In contrast, the bisector of the spatially-averaged $H{\alpha}$ line profile has a different shape; it is almost vertically straight or, if not, has a C-shape with a small peak blueshift of -0.5 km/s. In both the lines, the bisectors of bright network points are much different from those of other features in that they are significantly redshifted not only at the line centers, but also at the wings. We also find that the spatio-temporal fluctuation of Doppler shift inferred from the Caii line is correlated with those of the $H{\alpha}$ line. The strongest correlation occurs in the internework region, and when the inner wings rather than the line centers are used to determine Doppler shift. In this region, the RMS value of Doppler shift fluctuation is the largest at the line center, and monotonically decreases with ${\Delta}{\lambda}$. We discuss the physical implications of our results on the formation of the $H{\alpha}$ line and Caii 854.2 nm line in the quiet region chromosphere.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.287-293
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• 2008

The collimator which makes a collimated beam, is an essential instrument for assembly and evaluation of telescopes. Recently, the Cassegrain type collimator has been widely used for its compact size as the focal length of high resolution cameras becomes longer. However, this kind of collimator has a disadvantage in that the secondary mirror is a heat source which can degrade the evaluation accuracy for an IR camera system. In this paper, we present the fabrication and measurement process for an off-axis parabolic mirror with the physical diameter pf 1 m, effective diameter 930 mm, and the focal length 6 m. After four months of works we obtained the final surface wave-front error of 30.4 nm rms ($\lambda$/138, ${\lambda}=4.2\;{\mu}m$), which is capable of evaluation of an IR camera as well as a visible camera.