High-optical-quality cryogenic hollow retroreflectors

James J. Lyons III; Patricia Ann Hayes

doi:10.1117/12.219507

15 September 1995 High-optical-quality cryogenic hollow retroreflectors

James J. Lyons III, Patricia Ann Hayes

Proceedings Volume 2540, Current Developments in Optical Design and Engineering V; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.219507
Event: SPIE's 1995 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1995, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The Cassini mission to Saturn will contain the CIRS instrument which is currently being developed and assembled at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The CIRS instrument contains two science interferometers that operate in the mid and far infrared regions of the spectrum and one reference interferometer which operates in the visible. The heart of each of the interferometers is a series of hollow glass retroreflectors (cube corners) and hollow dihedrals. The hollow retroreflectors are constructed of individual facets of zerodur glass which are bonded 90 degrees to each other to sub arc-second accuracies. They are then coated with a reflective overcoat to meet the wavelength requirements. The effort at Goddard resulted in the development of retroreflectors that not only performed well at ambient temperatures, but also retained a wavefront error of approximately 2 waves p-v with a maximum beam deviation of 15 arc seconds at a temperature of 170 degrees kelvin or below. Also developed at GSFC is a successful means of mounting the retroreflectors on a fixed zerodur mount to allow cooling them down to these temperatures without introducing any added stresses that are not already present in the unmounted retroreflectors.

Citation Download Citation

James J. Lyons III and Patricia Ann Hayes "High-optical-quality cryogenic hollow retroreflectors", Proc. SPIE 2540, Current Developments in Optical Design and Engineering V, (15 September 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.219507

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