R. Spencer, G. Bergen, C. Fleetwood, H. Herzig, L. Miner, S. Rice, E. Smigocki, B. Woodgate, J. Zaniewski
Optical Engineering, Vol. 24, Issue 3, 243548, (June 1985) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.7973524
TOPICS: Ultraviolet radiation, Polarimetry, Mirrors, Optical components, Beam splitters, Spectroscopy, Light scattering, Americium, Objectives, Laser scattering
In order to accomplish scientific objectives, the ultraviolet spec-trometer and polarimeter (UVSP) for the Solar Maximum Mission incorporated into its design a rotatable, multiple-slit aperture plate assembly that contained 15 beam splitters and 10 deflectors. The beam splitters were extremely small, sharp-edged mirrors that were required to split spectral lines (1100 to 3200 A) at their centers with minimum light loss and scattering. Processes were devel-oped to fabricate and accurately mount these miniature prism-shaped mirrors, whose greatest dimension in all cases was less than 3 mm and whose leading edges, which were required to be sharper than 2 Am, were actually as small as 0.3 Am. Other optical components of the UVSP, while not as unique as the beam splitters, demanded unusual precision in their fabrication because of the complexity and resolution of the instrument. These were the telescope primary and secondary mirrors and metering rods for maintaining a precise distance between them, a spherical Ebert mirror, a holographically ruled diffraction grating with an antireflection coating under the photoresist to suppress unwanted secondary reflections, and a four-element UV polarizer.