  The Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), thanks to their large apertures and
cutting-edge Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) systems, promise to deliver
sharper and deeper data even than the JWST. SHARP is a concept study for a
near-IR (0.95-2.45 $\mu$m) spectrograph conceived to fully exploit the
collecting area and the angular resolution of the upcoming generation of ELTs.
In particular, SHARP is designed for the 2nd port of MORFEO@ELT. Composed of a
Multi-Object Spectrograph, NEXUS, and a multi-Integral Field Unit, VESPER,
MORFEO-SHARP will deliver high angular ($\sim$30 mas) and spectral
(R$\simeq$300, 2000, 6000, 17000) resolution, outperforming NIRSpec@JWST (100
mas). SHARP will enable studies of the nearby Universe and the early Universe
in unprecedented detail. NEXUS is fed by a configurable slit system deploying
up to 30 slits with $\sim$2.4 arcsec length and adjustable width, over a field
of about 1.2"$\times$1.2" (35 mas/pix). Each slit is fed by an inversion prism
able to rotate by an arbitrary angle the field that can be seen by the slit.
VESPER is composed of 12 probes of 1.7"$\times$1.5" each (spaxel 31 mas)
probing a field 24"$\times$70". SHARP is conceived to exploit the ELTs
apertures reaching the faintest flux and the sharpest angular resolution by
joining the sensitivity of NEXUS and the high spatial sampling of VESPER to
MORFEO capabilities. This article provides an overview of the scientific design
drivers, their solutions, and the resulting optical design of the instrument
achieving the required optical performance.
