NIP: the near infrared imaging photometer for Euclid

The NIP is a near infrared imaging photometer that is currently under investigation for the Euclid space mission in context of ESA's 2015 Cosmic Vision program. Together with the visible camera (VIS) it will form the basis of the weak lensing measurements for Euclid. The NIP channel will perform photometric imaging in 3 near infrared bands (Y, J, H) covering a wavelength range from ~ 0.9 to 2 μm over a field of view (FoV) of ~ 0.5 deg 2 . With the required limiting point source magnitude of 24 mAB (5 sigma) the NIP channel will be used to determine the photometric redshifts of over 2 billion galaxies collected over a wide survey area of 20 000 deg 2 . In addition to the photometric measurements, the NIP channel will deliver unique near infrared (NIR) imaging data over the entire extragalactic sky, enabling a wide variety of ancillary astrophysical and cosmological studies. In this paper we will present the results of the study carried out by the Euclid Imaging Consortium (EIC) during the Euclid assessment phase.