Abstract
Understanding how solar instruments actually “see” the Sun is essential for interpreting their observations. In this talk, I will present a new method to characterize the optical response of TuMag, a tunable imaging spectropolarimeter on board the Sunrise III mission. Instead of relying on traditional techniques, we use simple calibration images taken with a mechanical shutter partially blocking the field of view. The sharp edge of the shutter provides an ideal reference, and any deviation from it directly reveals the instrument’s response. From this we derive an empirical estimate of the Point Spread Function (PSF) and compare it with the one obtained through the commonly used phase diversity method. Finally, I will show how this method also allows us to assess the spurious polarization introduced by the instrument.
Co-authors
Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta, Francisco Javier Bailén Martínez, David Orozco Suárez (IAA-CSIC)