<p>The Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), when completed in 2019 will be the largest solar telescope built to date. DKIST will have a suite of first light polarimetric instrumentation requiring broadband polarization modulation and calibration optical elements. Compound crystalline retarders meet the design requirements for efficient modulators and achromatic calibration retarders. These retarders are the only possible large diameter optic that can survive the high flux, 5 arc minute field, and ultraviolet intense environment of a large aperture solar telescope at Gregorian focus. </p><p> This dissertation presents work performed for the project. First, I measured birefringence of the candidate materials necessary to complete designs. Then, I modeled the polarization effects with three-dimensional ray-tracing codes as a function of angle of incidence and field of view. Through this analysis I learned that due to the incident converging F/13 beam on the calibration retarders, the previously assumed linear retarder model fails to account for effects above the project polarization specifications. I discuss modeling strategies such as Mueller matrix decompositions and simplifications of those strategies while still meeting fit error requirements. Finally, I present characterization techniques and how these were applied to prototype components. </p>

<p> The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss the need for new technology in broadband high-resolution spectroscopy based on the emerging technique of Spatial Heterodyne Spectroscopy (SHS) and to propose new solutions that should enhance and generalize this technology to other fields. Spectroscopy is a proven tool for determining compositional and other properties of remote objects. Narrow band imaging and low resolving spectroscopic measurements provide information about composition, photochemical evolution, energy distribution and density. The extension to high resolving power provides further access to temperature, velocity, isotopic ratios, separation of blended sources, and opacity effects. In current high resolving power devices, the drawback of high-resolution spectroscopy is bound to the instrumental limitations of lower throughput, the necessity of small entrance apertures, sensitivity, field of view, and large physical instrumental size. These limitations quickly become handicapping for observation of faint and/or extended targets and for spacecraft encounters.</p><p> A technique with promise for the study of faint and extended sources at high resolving power is the reflective format of the Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer (SHS). SHS instruments are compact and naturally tailored for both high &eacute;tendue (defined in section 2.2.5) and high resolving power. In contrast, to achieve similar spectral grasp, grating spectrometers require large telescopes. For reference, SHS is a cyclical interferometer that produces Fizeau fringe pattern for all other wavelengths except the tuned wavelength. The large &eacute;tendue obtained by SHS instruments makes them ideal for observations of extended, low surface brightness, isolated emission line sources, while their intrinsically high spectral resolution enables one to study the dynamical and physical properties described above.</p><p> This document contains four chapters. Chapter 1, introduces a class of scientific targets that formerly have not been extensively observed due to absence of technical capabilities in current apparatus. We will introduce the concept of Special Heterodyne Spectrometers and address how it can fill the gap. Chapter 2 reports on the development of a new mathematical frame work for the Reflective SHS. Chapter 3 provides the details of the design and construction of a Tunable Reflective SHS at both UC Davis laboratory and Mt. Hamilton, Lick Observatory, CA. And chapter 4 contains an overview of the prospects of SHS instruments in future.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Syracuse University, 2008. / "Publication number: AAT 3349293."

Originally issued as author's Ph. D. thesis, University of Canterbury, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-222). Thesis available online from Univ. of Canterbury.