Preliminary design of the visible spectro-polarimeter for the advanced technology solar telescope

Alfred G. De Wijn, Roberto Casini, Peter G. Nelson, Pei Huang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Visible Spectro-Polarimeter (ViSP) is one of the first light instruments for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST). It is an echelle spectrograph designed to measure three different regions of the solar spectrum in three separate focal planes simultaneously between 380 and 900 nm. It will use the polarimetric capabilities of the ATST to measure the full Stokes parameters across the line profiles. By measuring the polarization in magnetically sensitive spectral lines the magnetic field vector as a function of height in the solar atmosphere can be obtained, along with the associated variation of the thermodynamic properties. The ViSP will have a spatial resolution of 0.04 arcsec over a 2 arcmin field of view (at 600 nm). The minimum spectral resolving power for all the focal planes is 180,000. The spectrograph supports up to 4 diffraction gratings and is fully automated to allow for rapid reconfiguration.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGround-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
EventGround-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Duration: Jul 1 2012Jul 6 2012

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume8446
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceGround-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityAmsterdam
Period07/1/1207/6/12

Keywords

  • ATST
  • Polarimeter
  • Polarimetry
  • Spectrograph
  • Sun

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