ALES: Overview and Upgrades

The Arizona Lenslets for Exoplanet Spectroscopy (ALES) is the world's first AO-fed thermal infrared integral field spectrograph, mounted inside the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) on the LBT. An initial mode of ALES allows 3-4 micron spectra at R~20 with 0.026'' spaxels over a 1''x1'' field-of-view. We are in the process of upgrading ALES with additional wavelength ranges, spectral resolutions, and plate scales allowing a broad suite of science that takes advantage of ALES's unique ability to work at wavelengths >2 microns, and at the diffraction limit of the LBT's full 23.8 meter aperture.