David F. Elmore

The Sunrise Mission

The first science flight of the balloon-borne Sunrise telescope took place in June 2009 from ESRANGE (near Kiruna/Sweden) to Somerset Island in northern Canada. We describe the scientific aims and mission concept of the project and give an overview and a description of the various hardware components: the 1-m main telescope with its postfocus science instruments (the UV filter imager SuFI and the imaging vector magnetograph IMaX) and support instruments (image stabilizing and light distribution system ISLiD and correlating wavefront sensor CWS), the optomechanical support structure and the instrument mounting concept, the gondola structure and the power, pointing, and telemetry systems, and the general electronics architecture. We also explain the optimization of the structural and thermal design of the complete payload. The preparations for the science flight are described, including AIV and ground calibration of the instruments. The course of events during the science flight is outlined, up to the recovery activities. Finally, the in-flight performance of the instrumentation is discussed.

Advanced Stokes polarimeter: a new instrument for solar magnetic field research

A new Stokes polarimeter for high spatial resolution quantitative measurement of magnetic fields at multiple heights in the solar atmosphere has been constructed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Solar Observatory. The instrument uses the Vacuum Tower Telescope at Sunspot, New Mexico, and its existing horizontal spectrograph, universal birefringment filter, and image motion stabilization system. The polarimeter uses a rotating retarder polarization modulator with polarization calibration optics. Multiple paired CCDs are used for detection followed by video processing to produce spatial maps of the full state of polarization in restricted regions of the solar spectrum. Two spectral regions encompassing lines sensitive to the Zeeman effect, which form in the photosphere and low chromosphere, are recorded simultaneously. Significant developments include: construction of the new telescope post focus optical arrangement, creation of a polarization model for the telescope, construction of high-speed, low-noise solid state cameras, and construction of computer hardware for receiving and processing high-rate 12-bit digital data.

An instrument to observe low-degree solar oscillations

We have constructed an instrument optimized to observe solar oscillations of low degree. The primary goal of this instrument, which we call LOWL, is to measure the frequency splitting of the low-degree modes in order to determine the rotation rate of the solar core. The LOWL is a Doppler imager based on a magneto-optical filter. It employs a two-beam technique to simultaneously observe solar images in opposite wings of the absorption line of potassium at 769.9 nm. This instrument is very stable against drifts in the wavelength zero-point, is insensitive to noise sources due to intensity fluctuations and image motion, and has a Doppler analyzer with no moving parts. The LOWL has been deployed at HAOs observing station on Mauna Loa, Hawaii and will operate for a period of at least two years.

The COR1 inner coronagraph for STEREO-SECCHI

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is a pair of identical satellites that will orbit the Sun so as to drift ahead of and behind Earth respectively, to give a stereo view of the Sun. STEREO is currently scheduled for launch in November 2005. One of the instrument packages that will be flown on each of the STEREO spacecrafts is the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI), which consists of an extreme ultraviolet imager, two coronagraphs, and two side-viewing heliospheric imagers to observe solar coronal mass ejections all the way from the Sun to Earth. We report here on the inner coronagraph, labeled COR1. COR1 is a classic Lyot internally occulting refractive coronagraph, adapted for the first time to be used in space. The field of view is from 1.3 to 4 solar radii. A linear polarizer is used to suppress scattered light, and to extract the polarized brightness signal from the solar corona. The optical scattering performance of the coronagraph was first modeled using both the ASAP and APART numerical modeling codes, and then tested at the Vacuum Tunnel Facility at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. In this report, we will focus on the COR1 optical design, the predicted optical performance, and the observed performance in the lab. We will also discuss the mechanical and thermal design, and the cleanliness requirements needed to achieve the optical performance.

Calibration of a ground-based solar coronal polarimeter

The Mk4 K-coronameter records polarization brightness images of the solar corona from the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii, USA. Calibration is required to quantitatively measure coronal polarization brightness, which in turn is used to infer coronal electron density. Matrix techniques are used to map the instrument polarization response. Brightness scaling depends upon precise knowledge of properties of an opal glass attenuator and calibration polarizer, sky transmission, and telescope pointing. In addition, account must be made for polarization at the objective lens and from the terrestrial atmosphere. Calibration parameters are stable to a few percent over a day, but when coupled with uncertainties in calibration optics values, sky transmission, and pointing, the average measurement uncertainty is ±15% ±6×10-9 pB/BSun.

Hinode Observations of a Vector Magnetic Field Change Associated with a Flare on 2006 December 13

Continuous observations of the flare productive active region 10930 were successfully carried out with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard the Hinode spacecraft during 2006 December 6 to 19. We focused on the evolution of photospheric magnetic fields in this active region, and the magnetic field properties at the site of the X3.4 class flare, using a time series of vector field maps with high spatial resolution. The X3.4 class flare occurred on 2006 December 13 at the apparent collision site between the large, opposite polarity umbrae. Elongated magnetic structures with alternatingly positive and negative polarities resulting from flux emergence appeared one day before the flare in the collision site penumbra. Subsequently, the polarity inversion line at the collision site became very complicated. The number of bright loops in Ca II H increased during the formation of these elongated magnetic structures. Flare ribbons and bright loops evolved along the polarity inversion line and one footpoint of the bright loop was located in a region having a large departure of the field azimuth angle with respect to its surroundings. SOT observations with high spatial resolution and high polarization precision revealed temporal change in the fine structure of magnetic fields at the flare site: some parts of the complicated polarity inversion line then disappeared, and in those regions the azimuth angle of the photospheric magnetic field changed by about 90i, becoming more spatially uniform within the collision site.

Spinor: Visible and Infrared Spectro-Polarimetry at the National Solar Observatory

The Spectro-Polarimeter for Infrared and Optical Regions (SPINOR) is a new spectro-polarimeter that will serve as a facility instrument for the Dunn Solar Telescope at the National Solar Observatory. This instrument is capable of achromatic polarimetry over a very broad range of wavelengths, from 430 to 1600 nm, allowing for the simultaneous observation of several visible and infrared spectral regions with full Stokes polarimetry. Another key feature of the design is its flexibility to observe virtually any combination of spectral lines, limited only by practical considerations (e.g., the number of detectors available, space on the optical bench, etc.).

Tunable liquid-crystal filter for solar imaging at the He i 1083-nm line

A Lyot-Ohman filter for imaging near the solar He i 1083-nm line is described. Fast and continuous spectral tunability is provided by nematic liquid crystals. This solid-state filter has a free spectral range of 2.35 nm and a spectral resolution of 0.135 nm at the operating wavelength of 1083 nm. A wide-fielded design was used for both static and electro-optic retarder elements, facilitating use in fast imaging systems. A first-light He i image of the Sun is presented.

Spectro-Polarimetric Observations and Non-Lte Modeling of Ellerman Bombs

Ellerman bombs are bright emission features observed in the wings of Hα, usually in the vicinity of magnetic concentrations. Here we show that they can also be detected in the Ca II infrared triplet lines, which are easier to interpret and therefore allow for more detailed diagnostics. We present full Stokes observations of the 849.8 and 854.2 nm lines acquired with the new spectro-polarimeter SPINOR. The data show no significant linear polarization at the level of 3 × 10−4. The circular polarization profiles exhibit measureable signals with a very intricate pattern of peaks. A non-LTE analysis of the spectral profiles emerging from these features reveals the presence of strong downflows (∼10 {km s−1}) in a hot layer between the upper photosphere and the lower chromosphere.

Evaluation of seeing-induced cross talk in tip-tilt-corrected solar polarimetry.

We reanalyze the effects of atmosphere-induced image motions on the measurement of solar polarized light using a formalism developed by Lites. Our reanalysis is prompted by the advent of adaptive optics (AO) systems that reduce image motion and higher-order aberrations, by the availability of liquid crystals as modulation devices, and by the need to understand how best to design polarimeters for future telescopes such as the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope. In this first attempt to understand the major issues, we analyze the influence of residual image motion (tip-tilt) corrections of operational AO systems on the cross talk between Stokes parameters and present results for several polarization analysis schemes. Higher-order wave-front corrections are left for future research. We also restrict our discussion to the solar photosphere, which limits several important parameters of interest, using some recent magnetoconvection simulations.