A comparison of the theoretical and measured performance of the Herschel/SPIRE imaging Fourier transform spectrometer

Abstract

The Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) is one of three scientific instruments on ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. An imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (IFTS) provides the medium resolution spectroscopic capabilities of SPIRE. This paper compares the measured performance of the SPIRE IFTS, as determined from flight model instrument verification tests, with theoretical expectations. This analysis includes a discussion of the instrument line shape, signal-to-noise, resolution, field of view and spectrometer sensitivity.