CONICA: The high resolution near-infrared camera for the ESO VLT

A high resolution near infrared camera (CONICA) for the first VLT unit is under development, which will provide diffraction limited spatial resolution being combined with the adaptive optics system NAGS (Rosset et al. 1998(1)). CONICA serves as a multi-mode instrument for the wavelength region between 1.0 and 5.0 mu m, offering broad band, narrow band or Fabry Perot direct imaging capabilities, polarimetric modes using Wollaston prism or wire grid analyzers and long slit spectroscopy up to a spectral resolution of about 1000 per two pixel. We presented a first concept of CONICA in 1995 (Lenzen and Hofmann, 1995(2)). In the mean time, large parts of the instrument have been manufactured, the cryostat and the adapter have been finished and first cryogenic tests have been performed. This paper describes the actual design and status of development of CONICA focusing on those aspects which have not been described in detail before or the design of which have been changed in the mean time.