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Abstract. -The new MPE near infrared imaging spectrometer 3D represents a new generation of astronomical instrumentation. It is based on a 256 2 NICMOS-3 Rockwell array and can simultaneously obtain 256 H-or K-band spectra at R= 1100 or 2100 from a square 16×16 pixel field on the sky. Typical pixel scales are 0.3 /pixel or 0.5 /pixel. 3D is a combination of a novel image slicer and a liquid nitrogen cooled long slit spectrometer. It includes high definition on-axis lens optics, a high efficiency directly ruled KRS-5 grism as well as a cold closed-loop piezo-driven tilt mirror allowing full spectral sampling. The instrument efficiency including detector is 15%. Combining the advantages of imaging and spectroscopy increases the observing efficiency on key astronomical objects (e.g. galactic nuclei) by such a large factor over existing grating or Fabry-Perot spectrometers that subarcsecond near-IR spectroscopy of faint Seyferts, starbursts, quasars, or distant galaxy clusters becomes feasible for the first time with 4m-class telescopes. As a portable instrument 3D has already been successfully deployed on several 2 and 4m-class telescopes.

Near infrared imaging spectroscopy at spatial resolutions of 0.5 arc seconds will fundamentally change our understanding of active galactic nuclei. This long desired capability has been achieved for the first time by the latest generation of MPE instruments, ROGUE and 3D. ROGUE, the Rapid Off-axis GUider Experiment, is a low order adaptive optics system performing tip-tilt correction in the near infrared using natural guide stars. 3D is the MPE near infrared imaging spectrometer capable of simultaneous imaging and spectroscopy of the entire H and K atmospheric windows.ROGUE is capable of tip-tilt correction at 40 Hz in a 4 arc-minute diameter isokinetic patch using natural guide stars as faint as 18th magnitude. We discuss the design of the instrument, present the first astronomical results, and outline future efforts to incorporate variable image scales.