Advanced technology solar telescope multiple Fabry-Perot interferometer telecentric optical design

We present four preliminary designs for a telecentric optical train supporting the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) multiple Fabry-Perot interferometer (MFPI), which is to be used as an imaging spectrometer and imaging spectropolarimeter. The point of departure for all three designs is the F/40 telecentric image at the Coude focus of the ATST. The first design, representing the high-spectral-resolution mode of operation, produces an intermediate F/300 telecentric image within the triple etalon system and a 34-arcsec field of view (FOV). The second design, intermediate between high- and low-spectral-resolution modes of operation, produces an intermediate F/150 telecentric image at the etalons and a 1.1-arcmin FOV. The third and fourth designs each represent a low-resolution mode of operation, producing an F/82 telecentric image at the etalons and a 2-arcmin FOV. Each design results in good telecentricity and image quality. Departures from telecentricity at the intermediate image plane cause field-dependent shifts of the band-pass peak, which are negligible compared to the bandpass FWHM. The root mean square (rms) geometric spot sizes at the final image plane fit well within the area of a camera pixel, which is itself in accordance with the Nyquist criterion, half the width of the 28-mu m-wide resolution element (as determined from the diffraction limit of the ATST). For each configuration, we also examine the impact that the Beckers effect (the pupil apodization caused by the angle-dependent amplitude transmittance of the MFPI) has on the image quality of the MFPI instrument. (c) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.