PMAS: The Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer. II. The wide integral field unit PPak

PPak is a new fiber-based integral field unit (IFU) developed at the Astrophysical Institute of Potsdam and implemented as a module into the existing Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) spectrograph. The purpose of PPak is to provide an extended field of view with a large light-collecting power for each spatial element, as well as an adequate spectral resolution. The PPak system consists of a fiber bundle with 331 object fibers, 36 sky fibers, and 15 calibration fibers. The object and sky fibers collect the light from the focal plane behind a focal reducer lens. The object fibers of PPak, each 2.'' 7 in diameter, provide a contiguous hexagonal field of view of 74 '' x 64 '' on the sky, with a filling factor of 60%. The operational wavelength range is from 400 to 900 nm. The PPak IFU, together with the PMAS spectrograph, are intended for the study of extended, low surface brightness objects, offering an optimization of total light-collecting power and spectral resolution. This paper describes the instrument design, the assembly, integration, and tests, the commissioning and operational procedures, and presents the measured performance at the telescope.