High resolution imaging with multilayer telescopes: resolution performance of the MSSTA II telescopes

Abstract

The Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA) is a sounding rocket-borne observatory composed of a set of normal-incidence multilayer-coated telescopes that obtained selected bandpass spectroheliograms (44 to 1550 Aa) of the solar atmosphere. These spectroheliograms were recorded on specially fabricated XUV and FUV 70-mm Kodak film. Rocket launches of this instrument payload took place in 1991 (MSSTA I) and 1994 (MSSTA II) at the White Sands Missile Test Range in New Mexico, sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sounding rocket experiment program. Immediately prior to the 1994 launch, visible light focusing tests of each telescope were performed in situ using a 1951 standard Air Force high-resolution test target, to measure optical resolution performance. We determined that the MSSTA II telescopes performed at diffraction-limited resolutions down to 0.70 arcsec at visible wavelengths. Based on these measurements, we calculate an upper bound to the focusing errors that incorporate the sum of all uncorrelated system focus errors that affect resolution performance. Coupling these upper bound estimates with the in-band diffraction limits, surface scattering errors and payload pointing jitter, we demonstrate that 11 of 19 MSSTA II telescopes--having negligible figures of focus errors in comparison to the corresponding visible diffraction limits--performed atmore » sub arcsecond resolution at their operational FUV/EUV/XUV wavelengths during flight. We estimate the in-band performance down to 0.14{+-}0.08 arcsec. (c) 2000 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.« less