HIPPI-2: A versatile high-precision polarimeter
Abstract
We describe the High-Precision Polarimetric Instrument-2 (HIPPI-2) a highly versatile stellar polarimeter developed at the University of New South Wales. Two copies of HIPPI-2 have been built and used on the 60-cm telescope at Western Sydney University's (WSU) Penrith Observatory, the 8.1-m Gemini North Telescope at Mauna Kea and extensively on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). The precision of polarimetry, measured from repeat observations of bright stars in the SDSS g'band, is better than 3.5 ppm (parts per million) on the 3.9-m AAT and better than 11 ppm on the 60-cm WSU telescope. The precision is better at redder wavelengths and poorer in the blue. On the Gemini North 8-m telescope, the performance is limited by a very large and strongly wavelength-dependent TP that reached 1000's of ppm at blue wavelengths and is much larger than we have seen on any other telescope.
- Publication:
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1911.02123
- Bibcode:
- 2020PASA...37....4B
- Keywords:
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- instrumentation: polarimeters;
- polarisation;
- techniques: polarimetric;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 25 pages, 14 Figures, Accepted by Publcations of the Astronomical Society of Australia