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30 March 2021 Polarization modeling and predictions for Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, part 7: preliminary NCSP system calibration and model fitting
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Abstract

Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is designed to deliver accurate spectropolarimetric solar data across a wide wavelength range, covering a large field of view simultaneously using multiple facility instruments for solar disk, limb, and coronal observations. We show successful design and implementation of National Solar Observatory Coudé Laboratory Spectropolarimeter, a custom metrology tool for efficient continuous broadband polarization calibration of the telescope mirrors through a coudé laboratory focus. We compare multiple fitting techniques for the 10 to >140 variable DKIST system polarization models. We compare results with the first DKIST solar calibration observations and find small thermally forced retardance changes of ±0.2  deg and ±0.5  deg for two separate SiO2 retarders. Modulation matrices derived are stable to <  ±  0.01 per element during the first on-Sun calibration tests. We achieve good fit agreement to our metrology-based model over a 390- to 1600-nm bandpass. The solutions are robust and efficient using only 10 input Stokes vectors from elliptical calibration retarders. We developed a custom polarizer assembly used with metrology tools to orient the DKIST polarization coordinates to better than 0.1-deg clocking angle.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
David M. Harrington, Stacey Sueoka, Amanda J. White, Arthur Eigenbrot, and Tom Schad "Polarization modeling and predictions for Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, part 7: preliminary NCSP system calibration and model fitting," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 7(1), 018004 (30 March 2021). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.7.1.018004
Received: 31 October 2020; Accepted: 12 March 2021; Published: 30 March 2021
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Cited by 5 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Mirrors

Modulation

Polarization

Polarizers

Wave plates

Calibration

Metrology

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