Wide field of view liquid crystals-based modulator for the polarimeter of the Metis/Solar Orbiter

Gerardo Capobianco; Marta Casti; Silvano Fineschi; Giuseppe Massone; Mewael G. Sertsu; Federico Landini; Marco Romoli; Ester Antonucci; Vincenzo Andretta; Giampiero Naletto; Gianalfredo Nicolini; Daniele Spadaro; Alberto Alvarez Herrero; Pilar Garcia Parejo; Matteo Marmonti

doi:10.1117/12.2323371

6 August 2018 Wide field of view liquid crystals-based modulator for the polarimeter of the Metis/Solar Orbiter

Gerardo Capobianco, Marta Casti, Silvano Fineschi, Giuseppe Massone, Mewael G. Sertsu, Federico Landini, Marco Romoli, Ester Antonucci, Vincenzo Andretta, Giampiero Naletto, Gianalfredo Nicolini, Daniele Spadaro, Alberto Alvarez Herrero, Pilar Garcia Parejo, Matteo Marmonti

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 1069830 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2323371
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

Metis is an inverted occulted coronagraph on-board the ESA/Solar Orbiter mission. The visible light path of the instrument will observe the "white" light (580-640 nm) linearly-polarized emission from the solar corona. The coronal polarized brightness allows retrieval of physical parameters such as the electron density and temperature of the K-corona. The Metis polarimeter comprises a quarter-wave retarder, the liquid crystal polarization modulation package (PMP) and a linear polarizer working as polarization analyser. The PMP consists of two Anti-Parallel Nematic Liquid Crystal Variable Retarders (LCVRs) with the fast axes parallels one to each other and a pre-tilted angle of the molecules in opposite direction, in order to maximize the homogeneity of the retardance across instrumental wide field of view: ±7 deg. This presentation reports the characterization of the PMP breadboard (BB), fully representative of the optical/polarimetric performances of the flight model. This characterization consisted in determining the performances of the device in terms of retardance as function of the applied voltage at different temperatures, angle of incidence and the variation of the retardance as a function of the wavelength. The calibrations were performed by measuring the complete Mueller matrix of the PMP-BB. The experimental results have been compared with the parameters of the theoretical model (e.g., depolarization, effective retardance, cells misalignment).

Citation Download Citation

Gerardo Capobianco, Marta Casti, Silvano Fineschi, Giuseppe Massone, Mewael G. Sertsu, Federico Landini, Marco Romoli, Ester Antonucci, Vincenzo Andretta, Giampiero Naletto, Gianalfredo Nicolini, Daniele Spadaro, Alberto Alvarez Herrero, Pilar Garcia Parejo, and Matteo Marmonti "Wide field of view liquid crystals-based modulator for the polarimeter of the Metis/Solar Orbiter", Proc. SPIE 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 1069830 (6 August 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2323371

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

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.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available