Daytime sky polarization calibration limitations

David M. Harrington; Jeffrey R. Kuhn; Arturo López Ariste

doi:10.1117/12.2233098

22 July 2016 Daytime sky polarization calibration limitations

David M. Harrington, Jeffrey R. Kuhn, Arturo López Ariste

Proceedings Volume 9912, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation II; 99126S (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233098
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

The daytime sky has been recently demonstrated as a useful calibration tool for deriving polarization cross-talk properties of large astronomical telescopes. The Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) and other large telescopes under construction can benefit from precise polarimetric calibration of large off-axis mirrors. Several atmospheric phenomena and instrumental errors potentially limit the techniques accuracy. At the 3.67m AEOS telescope on Haleakala, we have performed a large observing campaign with the HiVIS spectropolarimeter to identify limitations and develop algorithms for extracting consistent calibrations. Effective sampling of the telescope optical configurations and filtering of data for several derived parameters provide robustness to the derivedMueller matrix calibrations. Second-order scattering models of the sky show that this method is relatively insensitive to assumptions about telescope induced polarization provided the mirror coatings are highly reflective. Zemax-derived polarization models show agreement between predictions and on-sky calibrations.

Citation Download Citation

David M. Harrington, Jeffrey R. Kuhn, and Arturo López Ariste "Daytime sky polarization calibration limitations", Proc. SPIE 9912, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation II, 99126S (22 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233098

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