HARMONI at ELT: chromatic dependence of wavefront error performance in volume phase holographic diffraction gratings

HARMONI is the first light, adaptive optics assisted, visible and near-infrared integral field spectrograph for the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). As a ‘work-horse’ instrument, HARMONI will offer low, medium, and high spectral resolution volume phase diffraction gratings (VPH) across the I, z, J, H, and K-bands, operating at four spatial sampling scales including at the diffraction limit of the ELT. Consequently, understanding and controlling sources of wavefront error (WFE) is of critical importance to the instrument performance. We present a comprehensive overview of the WFE performance verification for the VPH element of the HARMONI infrared grating module. In collaboration with Wasatch Photonics, we compare the measured WFE at different test wavelengths to investigate the presence of any chromatic dependence or lack thereof. Finally, we discuss the origin of the observed wavefront error and the effectiveness of mitigation techniques such as magnetorheological finishing.