Optics alignment of a balloon-borne far-infrared interferometer BETTII

Arnab Dhabal; Stephen A. Rinehart; Maxime Rizzo; Lee G. Mundy; Henry P. Sampler; Roser Juanola-Parramon; Todd J. Veach; Dale J. Fixsen; Jordi Vila Hernandez de Lorenzo; Robert F. F. Silverberg

doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.3.2.024002

12 April 2017 Optics alignment of a balloon-borne far-infrared interferometer BETTII

Arnab Dhabal, Stephen A. Rinehart, Maxime Rizzo, Lee G. Mundy, Henry P. Sampler, Roser Juanola-Parramon, Todd J. Veach, Dale J. Fixsen, Jordi Vila Hernandez de Lorenzo, Robert F. F. Silverberg

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Vol. 3, Issue 2, 024002 (April 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.3.2.024002

Abstract

The Balloon Experimental Twin Telescope for Infrared Interferometry (BETTII) is an 8-m baseline far-infrared (FIR: 30−90 μm) interferometer providing spatially resolved spectroscopy. The initial scientific focus of BETTII is on clustered star formation, but this capability likely has a much broader scientific application. One critical step in developing an interferometer, such as BETTII, is the optical alignment of the system. We discuss how we determine alignment sensitivities of different optical elements on the interferogram outputs. Accordingly, an alignment plan is executed that makes use of a laser tracker and theodolites for precise optical metrology of both the large external optics and the small optics inside the cryostat. We test our alignment on the ground by pointing BETTII to bright near-infrared sources and obtaining their images in the tracking detectors.

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Arnab Dhabal, Stephen A. Rinehart, Maxime Rizzo, Lee G. Mundy, Henry P. Sampler, Roser Juanola-Parramon, Todd J. Veach, Dale J. Fixsen, Jordi Vila Hernandez de Lorenzo, and Robert F. F. Silverberg "Optics alignment of a balloon-borne far-infrared interferometer BETTII," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 3(2), 024002 (12 April 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.3.2.024002

Received: 20 January 2017; Accepted: 27 March 2017; Published: 12 April 2017

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