Spectral Characterization of the HIRDLS Flight Instrument From Prelaunch Calibration Data

Abstract

Results from an instrument-level spectral characterization of the 21-channel High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) flight instrument will be presented. These data were obtained during the prelaunch calibration of HIRDLS at the University of Oxford (fall 2002). A monochromator, equipped with a controllable diffraction grating, was used to produce monochromatic light for these tests. The monochromator was housed, along with HIRDLS, in a large vacuum chamber. The monochromator was also equipped with a polarizer, which allowed data to be acquired at known polarizations for each channel. A calibration detector, with a flat spectral response, was used to measure the output from the monochromator. This paper will document the analysis procedures used to obtain a measured instrument spectral response for each channel, along with the associated error analyses for these measurements.