For the future European Solar Telescope (EST) the Observatoire de Paris proposes a new generation of MSDP, an imaging spectro-polarimetry instrument. To validate this new generation, we develop a plane micro-mirrors beam slicer prototype that is tested and validated on an optical bench and on existing telescopes. The prototype called S4I (Spectral Sampling with Slicer for Solar Instrumentation) is built and tested at the Observatoire de Paris. It validates the opto-mechanical feasibility of the new beam slicer. After a complete description of the system, we present the first images. We evaluate the performances of the prototype and compare them to the requirements for the beam-slicer dedicated to the future EST.

Date Published: 28 July 2014
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 91476F (28 July 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2054947

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9147:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V
Suzanne K. Ramsay; Ian S. McLean; Hideki Takami, Editor(s)