Instrument's Characteristics

SINFONI is built from two components - the SINFONI AO module and the SPIFFI infrared integral field spectrograph:

Sinfoni - Adaptive Optics Module

curvature sensing / bimorph mirror
60 elements
Natural & Laser Guide Star operations
and a seeing limited mode

SPIFFI

SPectrometer for Infrared Faint Field Imaging
3D integral field spectrograph - 32 image slices
spectral range = 1.1 to 2.45 µm
FOV = 0.8 to 8 arcsec
Spatial resolution = 25mas, 100mas and 250mas

ESO internal development

developed by MPE and NOVA

A comprehensive description of the SINFONI instrument is given in the user manual. We provide a brief overview of the adaptive optics system (SINFONI AO) and the integral field spectrograph (SPIFFI) on the following pages:

More information can be obtained with the following links:

 

Literature queries about SINFONI

A summary of the SINFONI Science Verfication and Guarantied Time Observation projects can be found following the respective hyperlinks. Some early results obtained from the SINFONI commissioning observations are presented in the ESO Messenger 117 and in the press release about the first light observations of SINFONI.

Authors of publications based on SINFONI data may want to refer to the following publications or the references given therein: