Abstract

A unique photometer capable of measuring line intensities of <0.1% of the bright background continuum (5 × 10⁶/Å) has been developed and successfully commissioned for the measurement of daytime OI 630.0-nm emission from the thermosphere. The photometer employs a low resolution (10⁴) Fabry-Perot etalon, temperature tuned narrowband (3-Å) interference filter, radial chopper, and up/down counting system. The optimum choice of the photometer parameters and a unique method of eliminating the background enabled us to overcome the limitations of the earlier attempts to make measurements on such phenomena as dayglow and has opened up a wide range of uses. However, at present, it is being discussed only in the context of dayglow measurements.

© 1989 Optical Society of America

Tilting-Filter Measurements in Dayglow Rocket Photometry

R. C. Schaeffer and W. G. Fastie
Appl. Opt. 11(10) 2289-2293 (1972)

Novel mask design for multiwavelength dayglow photometry

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Appl. Opt. 32(22) 4178-4180 (1993)

Improved chopper mask for the dayglow photometer

R. Sridharan, R. Narayanan, and N. K. Modi
Appl. Opt. 31(4) 425-426 (1992)

Zenith sky brightness and airglow emissions during the equatorial solar eclipse of 30 June 1973

E. H. Carman, N. J. Skinner, and M. P. Heeran
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Oxygen 630.0- and 557.7-nm line source for thermospheric dynamics studies

Manfred A. Biondi
Appl. Opt. 41(30) 6499-6506 (2002)