Polarizing radiometer calibration
Abstract
Two high-precision computer-controlled polarizing radiometers have been used for several years to measure skylight polarization at several locations, including the Mauno Loa Observatory in Hawaii and the geographic South Pole. In this paper, procedures for calibrating these two instruments are presented, with special emphasis on a discussion of the dead-time correction for the photon-counting system, linearity of the measured intensity and polarization, and the angular intensity and polarization response. It is assumed that the linearity of the measured intensity and polarization is sufficiently accurate that any errors associated with their measurement are dominated almost entirely by random statistical errors associated with individual measurements. The angular response of the instruments due to the collimator is measured by moving a point source across the field of view.
- Publication:
-
3rd Conference on Atmospheric Radiation
- Pub Date:
- 1978
- Bibcode:
- 1978atra.conf...84W
- Keywords:
-
- Calibrating;
- Instrument Errors;
- Polarization Characteristics;
- Radiometers;
- Angular Distribution;
- Error Correcting Codes;
- Numerical Control;
- Photometers;
- Polarimeters;
- Polarizers;
- Radiation Counters;
- Random Errors;
- Instrumentation and Photography