Terahertz photometer to observe Solar flares in continuum

Marcon R.; Kaufmann P.; Fernandes L.O.T.; Godoy R.; Marun A.; Bortolucci E.C.; Zakia M.B.; Diniz J.A.; Kudaka A.S.

Terahertz photometer to observe Solar flares in continuum

Tipo

Artigo

Data de publicação

2012

Periódico

Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves

Citações (Scopus)

9

Autores

Marcon R.
Kaufmann P.
Fernandes L.O.T.
Godoy R.
Marun A.
Bortolucci E.C.
Zakia M.B.
Diniz J.A.
Kudaka A.S.

Resumo

Solar observations at sub-THz frequencies detected a new flare spectral component peaking in the THz range, simultaneously with the well known microwaves component, bringing challenging constraints for interpretation. Higher THz frequencies observations are needed to understand the nature of the mechanisms occurring in flares. A THz photometer system was developed to observe outside the terrestrial atmosphere on stratospheric balloons or satellites, or at exceptionally transparent ground stations. The telescope was designed to observe the whole solar disk detecting small relative changes in input temperature caused by flares at localized positions. A Golay cell detector is preceded by low-pass filters to suppress visible and near IR radiation, a band-pass filter, and a chopper. A prototype was assembled to demonstrate the new concept and the system performance. It can detect temperature variations smaller than 1 K for data sampled at a rate of 10/s, smoothed for intervals larger than 4 s. For a 76 mm aperture, this corresponds to small solar burst intensities at THz frequencies. A system with 3 and 7 THz photometers is being built for solar flare observations on board of stratospheric balloon missions. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011.

Assuntos Scopus

Band pass , Golay cells , Ground stations , Localized positions , Solar disk , Solar flare , Solar observations , Spectral components , Stratospheric balloon , Temperature variation , Tera Hertz , THz frequencies