Preliminary design of the full-Stokes UV and visible spectropolarimeter for UVMag/Arago

TL;DR

This paper presents a preliminary optical design for a space-based full-Stokes spectropolarimeter covering 119-888 nm, aiming to study stellar and planetary environments with high spectral resolution and polarization accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical design for a full-Stokes UV-visible spectropolarimeter integrated into a space mission, addressing broad spectral range and polarization measurement challenges.

Findings

Design includes a 1.3 m Cassegrain telescope with polarization-free focus.

Spectropolarimeter achieves high resolution (up to 35000) across UV and visible.

Optical layout incorporates a Three-Mirror-Anastigmat focusing system.

Abstract

The UVMag consortium proposed the space mission project Arago to ESA at its M4 call. It is dedicated to the study of the dynamic 3D environment of stars and planets. This space mission will be equipped with a high-resolution spectropolarimeter working from 119 to 888 nm. A preliminary optical design of the whole instrument has been prepared and is presented here. The design consists of the telescope, the instrument itself, and the focusing optics. Considering not only the scientific requirements, but also the cost and size constraints to fit a M-size mission, the telescope has a 1.3 m diameter primary mirror and is a classical Cassegrain-type telescope that allows a polarization-free focus. The polarimeter is placed at this Cassegrain focus. This is the key element of the mission and the most challenging to be designed. The main challenge lies in the huge spectral range offered by the instrument; the polarimeter has to deliver the full Stokes vector with a high precision from the FUV (119 nm) to the NIR (888 nm). The polarimeter module is then followed by a high-resolution echelle-spectrometer achieving a resolution of 35000 in the visible range and 25000 in the UV. The two channels are separated after the echelle grating, allowing a specific cross-dispersion and focusing optics for the UV and visible ranges. Considering the large field of view and the high numerical aperture, the focusing optic for both the UV and visible channels is a Three-Mirror-Anastigmat (TMA) telescope, in order to focus the various wavelengths and many orders onto the detectors.