The multi-slit plates for FLAMINGOS must be fabricated in advance. The dewar holds a total of 12 MOS plates, which should be more than adequate for a single night of observing. New plates can be installed into the multi-slit dewar during the day in a process which will take about 6 hours (2 hours to warm, 2 hours to pump, 2 hours to cool).
The focal plane distortion and mechanical irregularities of the UF slit cutting machine will be mapped using a plate with a 100x100 array of pinholes. Thus, pixels in FLAMINGOS images can be easily mapped into millimeters for the Laser cutter.
We have purchased a used Q-switched NdYAG Laser for the cutting FLAMINGOS plates. The Laser is very large and will not be moved from our UF lab, so it is not our intention to provide on site plate cutting.
