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The Advanced Stokes Polarimeter (1Sep92)
(from NSO, NOAO Newsletter No. 31, 1 September 1992)

The Advanced Stokes Polarimeter (ASP) was used for the first time for
scientific observations during March 1992 at NSO's Vacuum Tower
Telescope (VTT) in Sunspot, New Mexico. The ASP is a joint project
between the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (Boulder, Colorado) and the National Solar
Observatory/ Sacramento Peak. This new instrument is designed to
measure the full vector magnetic field at several heights in the solar
atmosphere with high angular resolution. It is the first instrument to
deliver quantitative information on the vector magnetic field that is
limited primarily by our ability to resolve solar features when
observed through the Earth's atmosphere. Prior instruments delivered
either qualitative images of high resolution, or quantitative
information with much lower angular resolution.

The initial results from successful observing runs in March and June of
1992 indicate the instrument to be performing as well as or better than
anticipated, and new scientific results on the structure of the
magnetic fields in and around sunspots have already been obtained. The
instrument will be opened to community use in 1993, once operations
become more routine.

The ASP is integrated into the VTT adaptive optics (AO) system, so that
the ASP will benefit from the improvement of the image quality when the
new AO system becomes available.

Bruce Lites, High Altitude Observatory

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