Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
We developed a polarization modulation unit (PMU), a motor system to rotate a waveplate continuously. We applied this PMU for the Chromospheric Lyman-alpha SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP), a sounding rocket experiment to observe the linear polarization of the Lyman-alpha emission (121.6 nm vacuum ultraviolet) from the upper chromosphere and transition region of the Sun with a high polarization sensitivity of 0.1% for the first time and investigate the vector magnetic field. Rotation non-uniformity of the waveplate causes error in the polarization degree (i.e. scale error) and crosstalk between Stokes components. In the ground tests, we confirmed that PMU has superior rotation uniformity. CLASP was successfully launched on September 3, 2015, and PMU functioned well as designed. PMU achieved a good rotation uniformity during the flight and the high precision polarization measurement of CLASP was successfully achieved.
Keywords:
Instrumentation and Photography; Solar Physics
Type:
MSFC-E-DAA-TN33470
,
SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation; Jun 26, 2016 - Jul 01, 2016; Edinburgh, Scotland; United Kingdom
Format:
application/pdf
Permalink