B. López, S. Lagarde and the all MATISSE consortium.
MATISSE, PERSPECTIVE OF IMAGING IN THE MID-INFRARED AT THE VLTI (Poster)

MATISSE, PERSPECTIVE OF IMAGING IN THE MID-INFRARED AT THE VLTI

B. López, S. Lagarde and the all MATISSE consortium.
OCA

MATISSE stands for Multi-AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment. It is a project proposed in the frame of second generation VLTI instruments. MATISSE allows imaging interferometry based on simultaneous multi-band observations in the 3 to 26 $\mu$m wavelength range with 4 telescopes and 3 spectral resolutions (from 30 to 1000). Its scientific potential is both provided by a combination of imaging, spectroscopy and the use off all mid-infrared bands accessible at the VLTI..

MATISSE constitutes an evolution of the two-beam interferometric instrument MIDI by increasing the number of recombined beams up to four. MIDI is a very successful instrument which offers a perfect combination of spectral and angular resolution. New characteristics present in MATISSE will give access to the mapping and the distribution of the material (typically dust) in the circumstellar environments or in the tori of Active Galactic Nuclei by using a wide mid-infrared band coverage extended to L, M, N and Q spectral bands. The four beam combination of MATISSE provides an efficient UV-coverage (6 visibility points measured in one set instead of one) and will moreover allow measurement of 4 closure phase relations thus providing for the first time aperture synthesis images in the mid-infrared spectral regime.

The MATISSE instrument concept, its characteristics and performances will be described in this presentation.