PHASE COMPENSATION OF A SEPARATION SCANNED, ALL-SKY IMAGING FABRY-PEROT SPECTROMETER FOR AURORAL STUDIES

We describe a new all-sky imaging spectrometer using a separation scan ned Fabry-Perot etalon. It is intended for ground-based mapping of upp er atmospheric wind and temperature fields in the auroral zone. Its ma jor advantage is that recorded spectra are not distorted by spatial an d temporal brightness fluctuations in the aurora. We present a discuss ion of previous approaches to field widening a Fabry-Perot spectromete r, then describe the principles underlying our method. This enables co mparisons with the throughput and the response to brightness fluctuati ons provided by previous instruments. We also describe our instrument' s optical layout, its calibration, and data analysis. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.