Buchan, Matthew A., Naylor, David A., Gom, Brad G., Christiansen, Adam J., Anderson, Alicia M., Cournoyer, Alain, Carbonneau, Éric, Larouche, Martin, Bourque, Hugo, Ade, Peter  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5127-0401 and Tucker, Carole ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1851-3918
2025.
Design and end-to-end validation of a cryogenic far-infrared post-dispersed polarizing Fourier transform spectrometer.
Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
11
(03)
, 031640.
10.1117/1.jatis.11.3.031640
|
Abstract
The PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) will feature a 1.8 m cryogenically cooled telescope that will enable astronomical spectroscopy at both low-resolution and high-resolution over a broad spectral range. In the absence of telescope self-emission and with access to ultra-sensitive detectors, the point source sensitivity of a broad spectral observation is limited by photon noise. The only meaningful way to reduce photon noise is by restricting the instantaneous spectral bandwidth observed by a single detector, typically to a fraction of one percent. In the case of the Far-InfraRed Enhanced Survey Spectrometer (FIRESS) instrument, low-resolution spectroscopy is achieved using several reflection diffraction gratings to restrict the spectral bandwidth. For high-resolution spectroscopy, a Fourier transform spectrometer is placed in front of and in series with the grating spectrometer, which serves as a post-dispersing element to achieve the same goal. The polarization encoding properties of a Martin–Puplett interferometer can exploit the strong polarization dependence of the low-resolution diffraction grating, by ensuring the interferometer output presents the transverse magnetic polarization mode to the grating. We term this hybrid instrument the post-dispersed polarizing Fourier transform spectrometer (PDPFTS). A fully cryogenic far-infrared PDPFTS has been developed in our laboratory to gain a better understanding of the challenges presented by this instrument. The results we present will help to guide the development of FIRESS.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Physics and Astronomy |
| Publisher: | Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers |
| ISSN: | 2329-4124 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 12 May 2025 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Oct 2025 22:33 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/179290 |
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