Fabry-Perot interferometer for high spectral resolution in the infrared and submillimeter

HIRMES, SOFIA’s third generation science instrument, delivers spectroscopy at wavelengths between 25 and 122 um and resolving powers (RP) between 600 and 100,000. The detectors arrays are background-limited transition edge sensed bolometers. Here we focus on the development, testing, and performance of the series of 8 tunable cryogenic scanning Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPI) that deliver the imaging (RP = 2000), and the long-slit medium resolution (RP = 10,000) and high resolution (RP = 100,000) spectroscopic modes. The FPIs use free-standing metal meshes mirrors, flexible parallelogram translations stages, PZTs and/or cryomoters for displacement. and capacitive sensors for displacement measure.