Instrumentation for solar spectropolarimetry: state of the art and prospects

IGLESIAS, FRANCISCO A.; FELLER, ALEX

OPTICAL ENGINEERING

SPIE-SOC PHOTOPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION ENGINEERS

Año: 2019 vol. 58

0091-3286

Given its unchallenged capabilities in terms of sensitivity and spatial resolution, the combination of imaging spectropolarimetry and numeric Stokes inversion represents the dominant technique currently used to remotely sense the physical properties of the solar atmosphere and, in particular, its important driving magnetic field. Solar magnetism manifests itself in a wide range of spatial, temporal, and energetic scales. The ubiquitous but relatively small and weak fields of the so-called quiet Sun are believed today to be crucial for answering many open questions in solar physics, some of which have substantial practical relevance due to the strong Sun?Earth connection. However, such fields are very challenging to detect because they require spectropolarimetric measurements with high spatial (sub-arcsec), spectral (