A cryogenic high spectral resolution Fourier Transform Spectrometer for limb emission measurements from a balloon platform in the mid-IR-region is described. The payload consists of a line-of-sight stabilization system, a telescope, a double-pendulum-interferometer, a detector system, and fast onboard signal-processing electronics. Sufficient sensitivity is achieved by cooling the optical system to 200 K with solid carbondioxide, by using liquid helium-cooled detectors and by splitting up the spectral coverage in bands. Calibration is performed by using space and blackbody measurements. Four successful balloon flights have been undertaken from Aire sur l'Adour, France and Esrange, Sweden between May 1989 and March 1992. All flights have provided information about a variety of trace gases involved in the ozone depletion process.

Date Published: 12 February 1993
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 1715, Optical Methods in Atmospheric Chemistry, (12 February 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.140197

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1715:
Optical Methods in Atmospheric Chemistry
Harold I. Schiff; Ulrich Platt, Editor(s)