Design and Construction of a Beam Combiner and Related Hardware

Abstract

The beam combiner for the Big Optical Array¹ will eventually combine 6 beams. Initially it will use the 3 way beam combiner shown in Figure 1>. This combiner is assembled on a 4’x7’ super-invar breadboard. Simultaneous white light fringes have been detected on all three baselines in the laboratory. This paper describes this beam combiner and the design decisions upon which it is based.