MRI: Development of Mees Spectropolarimeter for the Photosphere and the Chromosphere for Synoptic Observations of the 3-D Magnetic Field Structure of the Solar Atmosphere

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。提出建议的团队将开发一种名为Mees光球和色球分光偏振计（MSPC）的新仪器。MSPC将被整合到毛伊岛哈雷阿卡拉山的米斯太阳天文台（MSO）。该仪器将测量太阳红外谱线，并对太阳光球层、色球层和日冕的磁场和热力学环境进行长期观测研究。MSPC将利用新技术，首次允许对整个太阳活动区域进行具有动态节奏的成像光谱偏振测量，以及在红外光谱中进行全磁盘矢量磁场研究。当与MSO和国家大气研究中心拥有的其他仪器的观测结果相结合时，从MSPC获得的数据将能够研究太阳大气的整个垂直范围。MSPC将利用新的保偏（PM）光纤技术，以及制造大画幅PM相干光纤阵列的新技术，用于天文光谱偏振测量应用。MSPC先进的仪器设计，特别是新型PM光纤的使用，将提高仪器的吞吐量和稳定性，减少偏振串扰，简化校准和校正过程，提高矢量磁场观测的精度，最终降低MSPC系统的复杂性和总体成本。MSPC项目不仅将扩展和加强MSO在哈雷阿卡拉山的长期太阳磁场观测计划，还将利用夏威夷大学及其合作者已经资助的努力来改善MSO的基础设施和技术能力。此外，MSPC项目将提供一个现代仪器，以支持夏威夷大学正在进行的研究和未来仪器学家和太阳物理学家的培训。这台新仪器将极大地扩展美国地面太阳物理界的天气观测能力，并补充预期的先进技术太阳望远镜（ATST）的科学能力。从MSPC项目获得的技术和经验将有利于其他太阳观测站的仪器开发工作，并对其他领域（如从空间对地球的遥感和军事监视）使用的夜间光谱偏振测量技术产生重大影响。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The proposing team will develop a new instrument called the Mees Spectropolarimeter for the Photosphere and Chromosphere (MSPC). The MSPC will be integrated at the Mees Solar Observatory (MSO) on Mount Haleakala on the island of Maui. The instrument will measure solar infrared spectral lines and make possible long-term observational studies of the magnetic and thermodynamic environment of the Sun's photosphere, chromosphere, and corona. The MSPC will exploit new technology that will allow, for the first time, imaging spectropolarimetry of an entire solar active region with a dynamic cadence for observations, as well as full-disk vector magnetic field studies in the infrared spectrum. When combined with observations made by other instruments owned by MSO and by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, data obtained from the MSPC will enable the study of the full vertical extent of the solar atmosphere. The MSPC will utilize new polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber-optic technology, as well as new techniques in the fabrication of large-format PM coherent fiber-optic arrays, for astronomical spectropolarimetry applications. The advanced instrument design of MSPC, and in particular, the utilization of new PM fiber-optics, will enhance the throughput and stability of the instrument, reduce polarization crosstalk, simplify calibration and correction processes to enhance the accuracy of vector magnetic field observations, and ultimately reduce the complexity and overall cost of the MSPC system. The MSPC project will not only extend and enhance the MSO's long-term solar magnetic field observational program on Mount Haleakala, it will also leverage efforts already funded by the University of Hawaii and its collaborators to improve the infrastructure and technical capabilities of the MSO. In addition, the MSPC project will provide a modern instrument to support the ongoing research and training of future instrumentalists and solar physicists at the University of Hawaii. This new instrument will dramatically extend the synoptic observing capability of the US ground-based solar physics community and complement the science capabilities of the anticipated Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST). The technologies and experience acquired from the MSPC project will benefit instrument development efforts at other solar observatories, and have a significant impact on night-time spectropolarimetry techniques used in other fields (such as remote sensing of the Earth from space and military surveillance).