<title>Alignment verification by wavefront testing of the composite infrared spectrometer</title>

Abstract

The composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument is scheduled to fly on NASA's Cassini Orbiter to Saturn in 1997. CIRS consists of two Fourier transform spectrometers, the mid-IR (MIR) and the far-IR (FIR), which measure a spectral range from 7 to 1000 microns. The optical alignment of CIRS begins with alignment of the optical subsystems which are then integrated and aligned to each other. These subsystems include the 0.5 meter Cassegrain telescope, collimating optics aft of the telescope, the moving mirror scanning mechanism, MIR and FIR interferometers, and the MIR and FIR focal planes. This paper discusses the alignment verification test developed to verify the opto-mechanical alignment of the collimating optics and the fixed mirrors of the interferometers. The verification test utilized the ZYGO Mark IVxp interferometer to test the wavefront of the aligned subsystem. The test set-up, requirements and results are presented.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.