• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.355-357
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• 2017

For future space IR missions, such as SPICA, it is crucial to establish an experimental method for evaluating the performance of mid-IR detectors. In particular, the wavelength dependence of the sensitivity is important but difficult to be measured properly. We are now preparing a testing system for mid-IR Si:As/Si:Sb detectors on SPICA. We have designed a cryogenic optical system in which IR signal light from a pinhole is collimated, passed through an optical filter, and focused onto a detector. With this system, we can measure the photoresponse of the detector for various IR light using optical filters with different wavelength properties. We have fabricated aluminum mirrors which are adopted to minimize thermal distortion effects and evaluated the surface figure errors. The total wavefront error of the optical system is $1.3{\mu}m$ RMS, which is small enough for the target wavelengths ($20-37{\mu}m$) of SPICA. The point spread function measured at a room temperature is consistent with that predicted by the simulation. We report the optical performance of the system at cryogenic temperatures.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.363-365
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• 2017

The telescope to be onboard SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) has an aperture diameter of 2.5 m and its imaging performance is to be diffraction-limited at a wavelength of $20{\mu}m$ at the operating temperature of <8 K. Because manufacturing precise autocollimating flat mirrors (ACFs) with sizes comparable to the SPICA telescope is not technically feasible, we plan to use sub-aperture stitching interferometry through ACFs for optical testing of the telescope. We have verified the applicability of the sub-aperture stitching technique to the SPICA telescope by performing stitching experiments in a vacuum at a room temperature, using the 800-mm telescope and a 300-mm ACF. We have also developed a new method to reduce uncertainties possibly caused by cryogenic and gravitational deformations of ACFs.