We have developed a balloon-borne, astronomical far-infrared interferometer (FITE). Because the interferometer
is a Fizeau-type two beam interferometer consisting of two off-axis parabolic mirrors, it is important to establish
a method by which the two beams can be adjusted simultaneously. A conventional Hartmann test was originally
employed in our previous system, but it enabled the adjustment of only one beam at one time, thus quite
inefficient. We developed a new optical adjustment system that can simultaneously measure and evaluate two
beams by using a Shack - Hartmann wave front sensor. In the first stage, the field of view (FOV) of the wave
front sensor was adapted to the full beam size of 40 cm (the beam diameter), and the mirror surface accuracy as
well as the mirror alignment were measured and adjusted for each beam. After the adjustment of both beams,
they are focused at the input aperture hole of the far-infrared sensor system by expanding the FOV of the wave
front sensor so that it included both beams. With this new method, we can make real-time measurements and
analyses of converging beams, and can also realize fast switching between the single beam mode and double beam
mode. We demonstrated this new adjustment method by performing laboratory measurements, and designed
and assembled the new optical adjustment system for FITE.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.