Spectropolarimetry is nowadays one of the most used tool to investigate small scale (100 km) magnetic fields in the Sun’s atmosphere. In addition, the forthcoming 4-meter class solar telescopes will provide an unprecedented view of the solar magnetism with an accuracy (10^-4) never reached before, and on spatial scales which are at least twice as smaller. For this reason MCAO systems providing high Strehl ratios on a large field of view are being developed. Thus, the study of any possible effect of such AO systems on the polarization accuracy has to be carefully assessed. In this contribution we present preliminary results of laboratory tests conducted with the aim of evaluating possible drawbacks of the use of deformable mirrors on the spectropolarimetric accuracy.

Date Published: 22 August 2014
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9148, Adaptive Optics Systems IV, 91486P (22 August 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2056470

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9148:
Adaptive Optics Systems IV
Enrico Marchetti; Laird M. Close; Jean-Pierre Véran, Editor(s)