ADAPTIVE RAPID SCANNING IMAGING SPECTROPOLARIMETER

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP AN IMAGING GROUND-BASED SPECTROPOLARIMETER UTILIZING STATE-OF-THE-ART ACOUSTO-OPTICAL TUNABLE FILTERS (AOTFS). THE MAJOR SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION OF THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM IS THE USE OF A NOVEL OPTICAL IMAGING SYSTEM DESIGNED TO PROVIDE ACCESSTO THE ORTHOGONALLY POLARIZED AOTF IMAGES, AND THE UNDERVIATED CENTRAL BEAM TO USE FOR GUIDING, OR OTHER PURPOSES. ACCESS TIME WILL BE LESS THAN 25 MICROSECONDS, WITH A TUNING RANGE COVERING .3 MICROMS TO 3 MICRONS, UTILIZING A MINIMUM OF AOTFS TO COVER THIS EXTENDED RANGE, AND WITH A YARIABLE PASSBAND, NOMINALLY BETWEEN 10 AND 100 ANGSTROMS @ 1 MICRON. SPECIFIC INNOVATIONS INCLUDE:* THE USE OF AN INTEGRAL INSTRUMENT IMAGE ROTATOR TO ALLOW ROUTINE LINEAR POLARIZATION MEASUREMENTS USING BOTH AOTF FILTERED IMAGES, * THE USE OF AUTOMATED CONTROL FOR THE ABOVE, WITH AN INTERFACE TO THE DATA ACQUISITION COMPUTER, * THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INNOVATIVE TRANSDUCER AND/OR AOTF DESIGNS TO PROVIDE FLEXIBLE CHOICES OF PASSBAND SHAPE AND/OR POSITION(S).