The Dark Energy Survey (DES) will be the new state-of the-art in large-scale galaxy imaging surveys. With 5,000 deg2, it will cover an area of the sky similar to SDSS-II, but will go over two magnitudes deeper, reaching 24th magnitude in all four optical bands (griz). DES will further provide observations in the redder Y-band and will be complemented with VISTA observations in the near-infrared bands JHK. Hence DES will furnish an unprecedented combination of sky and wavelength coverage and depth, unreached by any of the existing galaxy surveys. The very nature of the DES data set – large volume at intermediate photometric depth – allows us to probe galaxy formation and evolution within a cosmic-time range of ~ 10 Gyr and in different environments. In fact there will be many galaxy clusters available for galaxy evolution studies, given that one of the main aims of DES is to use their abundance to constrain the equation of state of dark energy. The X-ray follow up of these clusters, coupled with the use of gravitational lensing, will provide very precise measures of their masses, enabling us to study in detail the influence of the environment on galaxy formation and evolution processes. DES will leverage the study of these processes by allowing us to perform a detailed investigation of the galaxy luminosity and stellar mass functions and of the relationship between dark and baryonic matter as described by the Halo Occupation Distribution.

A straightforward ambient temperature route to the fabrication of surface silver-metallized polyimide films is described. Silver(I) trifluoromethane sulfonate and a polyimide, derived from 2,2-bis(3,4-dicarboxyphenyl)hexafluoropropane dianhydride (6FDA) and an equimolar amount of 4,4'-oxydianiline (ODA) and 3,5-diaminobenzoic acid (DABA), were dissolved together in dimethylacetamide. Silver(I)-doped films were prepared at thicknesses of 25-50 microns and depleted of solvent by evaporation. The silver(I)-containing films were then treated with aqueous reducing agents, which brought forth silvered films exhibiting conductivity on the order of bulk polycrystalline silver and good specular reflectivity.