Design, production, and performance of the DESI front end fiber system

Abstract

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is under construction to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14000 sq deg will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope will deliver light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broad-band spectrographs. We will describe the design and performance of the DESI fiber system which consists of 5000 custom positioner fiber assemblies that are installed into 5000 robotic fiber positioners.