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IR Postdisperser Available (1Sep93)
(from NSO, NOAO Newsletter No. 35, 1 September 1993)

Thanks to the efforts of Bill Lenz, Dick Joyce and Dave Stultz (KPNO),
Don Jennings, Drake Deming and George McCabe (NASA/GSFC), and Ken Hays
(Rockwell Science Center) the 12 um NOAO cryogenic postdisperser is
operational and available for infrared solar observing on a limited,
shared-risk basis.

The postdisperser combines a single-element BIB detector and a grating
housed in a liquid Helium cooled dewar. External adjustment of the
grating angle isolates narrow spectral bands (R~200) in the range 8-12
um. The Goddard group has successfully used the system, in combination
with the McMath-Pierce Facility and 1-m FTS, to observe the Zeeman-
sensitive 12 um emission lines in the solar photosphere.

Due to NSO's limited support resources, the NOAO postdisperser will be
scheduled for observing on a "shared risk" basis. In practice this
means that if a serious instrument failure should occur, we cannot
guarantee that the problem will be addressed during the observing run.
However, we have had considerable success with other instruments
scheduled in this mode and are now prepared to accept observing
proposals requesting the NOAO postdisperser.

Thanks go out to all those involved in developing this exciting
instrument and making it available to the solar community.

Ken Hinkle, Doug Rabin, Jeremy Wagner

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