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Optical alignment of contamination-sensitive far-ultraviolet spectrographs for Aspera SmallSat mission

Jul 22, 2024
20 pages
Published in:
  • Proc.SPIE Int.Soc.Opt.Eng. 13093 (2024) 130930A
Contribution to:
  • Published: Aug 21, 2024
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Abstract: (International Society for Optics and Photonics)
Aspera is a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers SmallSat mission designed to study diffuse Ovi emission from the warm-hot phase gas in the halos of nearby galaxies. Its payload consists of two identical Rowland Circle-type long-slit spectrographs, sharing a single MicroChannel plate detector. Each spectrograph channel consists of an off-axis parabola primary mirror and a toroidal diffraction grating optimized for the 1013-1057 Å bandpass. Despite the simple configuration, the optical alignment/integration process for Aspera is challenging due to tight optical alignment tolerances, driven by the compact form factor, and the contamination sensitivity of the Far-Ultraviolet optics and detectors. In this paper, we discuss implementing a novel multi-phase approach to meet these requirements using state-of-the-art optical metrology tools. For coarsely positioning the optics we use a blue-laser 3D scanner while the fine alignment is done with a Zygo interferometer and a custom computer-generated hologram. The detector focus requires iterative in-vacuum alignment using a Vacuum UV collimator. The alignment is done in a controlled cleanroom facility at the University of Arizona.
Note:
  • Manuscript submitted for Proceedings of Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024, Paper no. 13093-9
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