<title>Imaging polarimeter for the mid-infrared</title>

Abstract

We have built an imaging polarimeter for use at mid-IR wavelengths (i.e. N band or 8 - 13 micrometers ). The detecting element is a 128 x 128 element Si:Ga Focal Plane Array, supplied by Amber Engineering, USA. The polarimeter itself provides diffraction limited images on a 4 m class telescope and has a field of view of about 32 arcseconds of sky with 1/4 arcsecond pixels. The two orthogonal planes of polarization can be imaged simultaneously so that each integration provides an independent measure of polarization. This instrument had a successful commissioning run in July 1993, and the polarization beam splitting assembly will be commissioned in May of this year.