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S. Tomczyk, G.L. Card, T. Darnell, D.F. Elmore, R. Casini, P.G. Judge, J. Burkepile (HAO/NCAR)
We have constrcted a filter-based polarimeter optimized for the measurement of magnetic fileds in the solar corona. The instrument will observe the coronal emission lines of FeXIII at 1074.7 and 1079.8 nm as well as the chromospheric HeI emission line at 1083 nm. The instrument consists of a polarimeter allowing complete Stokes I,Q,U,V measurement followed by a Lyot birefringent filter with dual passbands of 0.14 nm width. Both the polarimeter and filter employ liquid crystals for rapid electro-optical tuning. This instrument was deployed to the 20-cm One Shot coronagraph at NSO's Sacramento Peak Observatory in January of 2004.
Measurement of the longitudinal Zeeman effect provides information on the strength of the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field while the observation of resonance scattering will constrain the plane-of-sky field direction. Precise measurement of plasma velocity is also possible. Such measurements are critical for addressing many outstanding problems in coronal physics.
The operation and performance of the instrument will be described. We will also describe the methodology for the coronal magnetic field measurement. Initial measurements taken with the instrument will be presented. This research was supported by the NSF.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: tomczyk@ucar.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #2
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