LIGER:

We are designing a 2nd generation adaptive optics­ fed integral field spectrograph (IFS) for the W. M. Keck Observatory. This innovative spectrograph, referred to as Liger, will take advantage of the improved Keck Adaptive Optics (AO) performance and advancements in large format near­ infrared detectors. A next generation facility­ class imager and spectrograph is crucial for exploring a wide­range of science cases, such as distant galaxies, exoplanets, supermassive black holes, nearby star forming regions, the Galactic Center, and Solar System bodies. Liger will offer a near ­infrared imaging camera at bluer wavelengths than currently offered by the Keck AO instrumentation suite. The IFS will enable new science by offering enhanced capabilities such as higher spectral resolving power, bluer wavelengths, and larger field of views compared to any existing and future ground­ and space­based IFS systems. Liger will leverage existing designs from the first light Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) instrument IRIS (Larkin et al. 2016, Wright et al. 2016).