ABSTRACT
We have constructed a mid-infrared Fabry-Perot imager (MIRFI) at Nagoya University. At present, MIRFI is tuned to the 12.813 micron fine structure line of [Ne II], and it provides line images with a spectral resolving power of R ~ 2500 over a 5X5 pixel Si-P photoconductive detector array. This array has a plate scale of 1.3" pixel-1 and a field of 8"x8" when mounted on the 3-m NASA Infrared Telescope (IRTF). The Fabry-Perot driving mechanism utilized solenoid magnets and is cooled by liquid He. MIRFI achieves background limited performance, and its noise equivalent line flux sensitivity is currently 1.6 x 10-20 W cm-2 pixel-1 per spectral resolution element for a 17-sec on-source integration on the IRTF. Future upgrade plans for MIRFI are also described.