The Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter (MMTF) is a narrow-band filter which is tunable in both central wavelength and transmission bandpass. It is installed in the IMACS spectrograph on the Baade 6.5m telescope, which is located at Las Campanas Observatory.

The MMTF is based on a Fabry-Perot etalon with clear aperture of 150mm. It operates in low orders (close plate spacings) to provide a transmission bandpass which is adjustable from ~5 to ~25 Å. The central wavelength of the filter is also tunable from 5000 to over 9200 Å. When used with the IMACS short camera, the field of view of the imager is 27 arcminutes in diameter, and the diameter of the central monochromatic region of the field is ~10 arcminutes at 6600 Å. The MMTF operates on similar principles to the Taurus Tunable Filter.

12 Mar 2008: Data Reduction Guide posted.

3 Mar 2008: v1.1 software release.

25 Feb 2008: New sensitivity measurements posted.

16 Jan 2008: v1.1 website release. New contents: software release; instrument scientist set-up guide; calibration instructions; discussion of monochromatic spot; new filter calibrations. Updates: more detailed observing strategies; FPCALC now allows tracking of wavelength drift; better website navigation.

16 Jan 2008: v1.0 software release.

The MMTF is made possible by a collaboration among the University of Maryland, the Observatories of the Carnegie Institute of Washington (OCIW), and the Magellan Project, and by the National Science Foundation through an ATI grant (NSF AST-0242860; Sylvain Veilleux, Principal Investigator). Co-Investigators and collaborators include Alan Dressler (OCIW), Joss Bland-Hawthorn (AAO), Bruce Bigelow (OCIW/Michigan), Michael McDonald (Maryland), Michael Rauch (OCIW), David Rupke (Maryland), Patrick Shopbell (Caltech), Brian Sutin (OCIW/Skewray), Ian Thompson (OCIW), Stuart Vogel (Maryland), Benjamin Weiner (Maryland/Arizona), and Ray Weymann (OCIW).