Spectrometer system for diffuse extreme ultraviolet radiation

Area of Science:

• Astrophysics
• Space instrumentation
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Studying diffuse line emission in the 80-650 Angstrom range is crucial for understanding astronomical sources.
• Previous instruments may have limitations in sensitivity or spectral coverage for these observations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, build, and test a novel grazing incidence spectrometer system.
• To measure diffuse line emission in the 80-650 Angstrom spectral range.
• To assess the instrument's performance for observing astronomical background radiation.

Main Methods:

• A unique grazing incidence spectrometer system was designed using mechanically ruled reflection gratings and a linear array of mirrors.
• The system focuses spectral images onto microchannel plate detectors positioned behind thin filters.
• The instrument has a field of view of 40 arcminutes by 15 degrees, without spatial imaging capabilities.

Main Results:

• The spectrometer achieves a resolution of 10-30 Angstroms.
• Minimum detectable emission line strength is between 100-2000 photons cm(-2) sec(-1) steradian(-1) for a 5-minute observation.
• The instrument was successfully fabricated, calibrated, and deployed on a sounding rocket.

Conclusions:

• The developed grazing incidence spectrometer is a functional instrument for studying diffuse line emission.
• The successful sounding rocket flight demonstrates its capability for astronomical background radiation observation.
• The instrument provides valuable data in the 80-650 Angstrom range with specified sensitivity and resolution.