Spherical lamellar grating interferometer for airborne astronomical observations of far infrared objects
Abstract
A lamellar-grating interferometer designed for airborne IR astronomy is described, and its response to a laboratory far-IR source and to Jupiter as viewed from NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory is discussed. The theory of lamellar-grating interferometers is reviewed, advantages over Michelson interferometers are noted, and the optical arrangement for the lamellar-grating instrument is indicated. The response of the instrument is illustrated using purged and unpurged spectra of a 1000-K blackbody source as well as a raw spectrum of Jupiter containing many absorption features (probably telluric) identified with rotation bands of H2O. It is noted that the interferometer's self-collimation allows for efficient operation with a minimum of auxiliary optics.
- Publication:
-
Applied Optics
- Pub Date:
- January 1977
- DOI:
- 10.1364/AO.16.000233
- Bibcode:
- 1977ApOpt..16..233P
- Keywords:
-
- Airborne Equipment;
- Astronomical Spectroscopy;
- Far Infrared Radiation;
- Gratings (Spectra);
- Infrared Astronomy;
- Infrared Interferometers;
- Black Body Radiation;
- Collimation;
- Infrared Spectra;
- Jupiter (Planet);
- Optics;
- ASTRONOMY;
- INFRARED: FAR;
- INTERFEROMETERS