Abstract
A polarimeter to be mounted on the Yunnan solar tower is described. It features the ability to simultaneously measure the magnetic fields of the solar photosphere and chromosphere by analyzing the Stokes spectra of those magnetosensitive lines forming in the two regions with very high efficiency of polarization measurement. The polarimeter consists of two ferroelectric liquid crystals and one wave plate before a polarizing beam splitter. The achromatism of the design is emphasized to get the maximum combination efficiency over a spectral range from to . For the used solar absorption lines MgI517.27, FeI525.06, FeI630.15, and , the design gives theoretical efficiencies of polarization measurements, which are 0.999, 1.0, 0.943, and 0.943, respectively. A comparison with other reference polarimeters, such as the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigation of the Sun, the Tenerife infrared polarimeter, and the La Palma Stokes Polarimeter, is carried out.
© 2006 Optical Society of America
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