[Manufacture tolerance analysis of solid Mach-Zehnder interferometer in large aperture static imaging spectrometer...

The principle and instrumental structure of large aperture static imaging spectrometer (LASIS) were briefly described in the present paper, the principle of the Mach-Zehnder imaging spectrometer was introduced, and the Mach-Zehnder interferometers' working way in the imaging spectrometer was illustrated. The structure of solid Mach-Zehnder interferometer was analyzed, and discussion was made based on the requirements of field of view (FOV) in image space and single sided interferogram with a small portion around zero path difference (ZPD). The additional optical path difference (OPD) created by manufacturing and matching tolerance of two asymmetrical pentagonal prisms will lead to the displacement of shearing and OPD nonlinearity. It was showed that the additional OPD from non-common optical path structure of solid Mach-Zehnder spectrometer implies more requirements on the manufacture of this element, compared with Sagnac interferometer, for the matching tolerance of two asymmetrical pentagonal prisms to br lower than 0.02 mm. The recovery spectrum error caused by the OPD nonlinearity is lower than 0.2% and can be ignored.