Polarimetry from the Ground Up

TL;DR

This paper advocates for applying systems engineering principles to ground-based solar polarimeter design to improve integration and performance, moving beyond traditional experience-based methods.

Contribution

It introduces a formal systems engineering framework for designing solar polarimeters, aiming to enhance system integration and performance.

Findings

Initial steps towards a systematic design methodology

Highlighting the limitations of experience-based polarimeter design

Proposing a holistic approach to telescope-instrument-polarimeter systems

Abstract

Ground-based solar polarimetry has made great progress over the last decade. Nevertheless, polarimetry is still an afterthought in most telescope and instrument designs, and most polarimeters are designed based on experience and rules of thumb rather than using more formal systems engineering approaches as is common in standard optical design efforts. Here we present the first steps in creating a set of systems engineering approaches to the design of polarimeters that makes sure that the final telescope-instrument-polarimeter system is more than the sum of its parts.