A solar radio dynamic spectrograph with flexible temporal-spectral resolution

Observation and research on solar radio emission have unique scientific values in solar and space physics and related space weather forecasting applications, since the observed spectral structures may carry important information about energetic electrons and underlying physical mechanisms. In this study, we present the design of a novel dynamic spectrograph that has been installed at the Chashan Solar Radio Observatory operated by the Laboratory for Radio Technologies, Institute of Space Sciences at Shandong University. The spectrograph is characterized by real-time storage of digitized radio intensity data in the time domain and its capability to perform off-line spectral analysis of the radio spectra. The analog signals received via antennas and amplified with a low-noise amplifier are converted into digital data at a speed reaching up to 32 k data points per millisecond. The digital data are then saved into a high- speed electronic disk for further off-line spectral analysis. Using different word lengths （1-32k） and time cadences （5 ms-10 s） for off-line fast Fourier transform analysis, we can obtain the dynamic spectrum of a radio burst with different （user-defined） temporal （5 ms-10 s） and spectral （3 kHz-320kHz） resolutions. This enables great flexibility and convenience in data analysis of solar radio bursts, especially when some specific fine spectral structures are under study.

The Coude Echelle Spectrograph for the Lijiang 1.8 m telescope

The Coude Echelle Spectrograph(CES)was originally mounted on Xinglong 2.16 m telescope in 1994.When the High Resolution Fiber-fed Spectrograph(HRS)was commissioned at Xinglong 2.16 m telescope,the red path of CES was moved to Lijiang 1.8 m telescope,following some redesign and reinstallation.The CES of Lijiang 1.8 m telescope has the spectral resolution(R=λ/?λ)ranging from 20000 to 50000 corresponding to different slit widths.With a 2 k×2 k PI CCD,CES has a wavelength coverage between 570 nm to 1030 nm.In particular,the resolution of 37000 at 0.5 mm slit corresponds to 1.3′′on the sky.The limiting magnitude is V=11.5 with the use of the tip-tilt feedback system,and the S/N is about 40 for 1 hour exposure at 600 nm(R=37000).During the installation of CES,the tip-tilt mirror technology had successfully fulfilled high precision guiding and tracking for high resolution spectral observation and significantly improved the observation efficiency.

The Coudé Echelle Spectrograph for the Xinglong 2.16m Telescope

A brief description of the NAO coude echelle spectrograph mounted on the 2.16 m telescope at Xinglong station is given. This echelle spectrograph is located at the coudé focus with a prism cross disperser. The echelle image covers the spectral region from 330 to 1100 nm displayed in 80 spectral orders in one exposure through two light beams. With a slit height of 2mm, spectral orders are separated by 15 to 23 pixels in blue region and by 7 to 19 pixels in red region. Alternatively, two additional resolution modes corresponding to different focal length cameras with resolving power R 16000, 170 000 in the blue beam and R = 13000, 170 000 in the red beam could be provided by this spectrograph. The bias, dark, wavelength calibration, flat field and science exposure are described in details. The limiting magnitude for 1 hour exposure with an S/N ratio of 100 scales to V = 9.5 in the red path and to V = 7.2 in the blue path.

河外星系NGC 0925中氢二二区的光谱观测研究

氢二区是星系中恒星形成的场所,最显著的观测特征是光谱中的一系列发射线,光谱观测和分析是研究氢二区性质的主要途径。文章呈现的是利用国家天文台2.16 m望远镜对河外星系NGC 0925中的一个氢二区进行光谱观测、数据处理和测量以及分析的工作。基于观测到的光谱发射线,采用“巴尔默减幅”法得到星系内消光并作消光改正;利用Hα发射线的光度得到恒星形成率;利用强发射线方法得到氧元素丰度。结果显示,该氢二区的尘埃消光严重(V波段的尘埃消光A(V)=0.641 mag)、恒星形成活动性强(恒星形成率面密度∑_(SFR)=0.104 M⊙/yr/kpc^(2))、金属元素丰度高(氧元素丰度12+log(O/H)=8.337 dex)。

The first observation and data reduction of the Multi-wavelength Spectrometer on the New Vacuum Solar Telescope

The Multi-wavelength Spectrometer is a medium-dispersion（R^130 000）grating spectrometer installed on the New Vacuum Solar Telescope at the Fuxian Solar Observatory,Yunnan Astronomical Observatory,Chinese Academy of Sciences.It is designed to accurately observe the velocity and magnetic fields of the Sun.The present configuration of this spectrometer allows us to simultaneously observe three different solar spectral lines.This work is dedicated to showing the first observations carried out in both the Hαand Ca II 8542 A lines.We give a detailed description of the data reduction process,focusing on the retrieval of a flat field from the high-resolution spectral data.Two different methods are also performed and compared to eliminate the residual fringe in the reduced data.The real spectral resolution and instrumental profile are analyzed based on the final results,which indicate that this spectrometer presently satisfies the expected performance and it is ready for further scientific observations.

太阳紫外高分辨观测

对近年来的紫外空间观测仪器（包括在研项目）作了扼要介绍，并对一些关键问题如烃基污染致使仪器灵敏度迅速下降，镜面紫外反射率低下及改进，探测器换代的必要性和困难等作了评述。文中还介绍了目前已取得的紫外观测结果对宁静太阳及太阳活动区物理中的一些基本问题如色球和日冕加热，太阳风的加速，色球和过渡区中的物质流以及耀斑触发和能量传输方面所提供的有价值的诊断信息。

一种基于二维算法的新颖的多目标光纤光谱数据处理流程

郭守敬望远镜(Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope,LAMOST)、斯隆数字巡天(Sloan Digital Sky Survey,SDSS)、英澳望远镜(AngloAustralia Telescope,AAT)等大多数多目标光纤光谱望远镜现用的数据处理流程都是基于一维算法的.以LAMOST为例提出多目标光纤光谱数据处理流程方法.在LAMOST现用数据处理流程中,在预处理过程之后,通过基于一维模型的抽谱算法从二维观测目标光谱数据中得到一维抽谱结果作为中间数据.后续的处理步骤都基于一维模型的算法.然而,这种数据处理流程不符合观测光谱的形成机理.因此,在每个步骤中都引入了不可忽略的误差.为了解决这一问题,提出了一种还未被用于LAMOST及其他望远镜数据处理系统的新颖的数据处理流程.重新设计安排了各个数据处理模块的顺序,各关键步骤算法都是基于二维模型的.核心算法将详细论述.此外,列出了部分实验结果来证明二维算法的有效性和优越性.

LAMOST低分辨率光谱仪体位相全息光栅的参数测量

对LAMOST(Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope)16台低分辨率光谱仪共34块体位相全息光栅(VPHG)的参数进行了系统测试,给出了测试方法和测量结果,测量参数包括光栅的刻线密度、闪耀角、衍射效率曲线以及闪耀角偏差对衍射效率的影响等,测量的数据为LAMOST光谱仪的安装提供了依据.

Sky subtraction for LAMOST

Sky subtraction is a key technique in data reduction of multi-fiber spectra. Knowledge of characteristics related to the instrument is necessary to determine the method adopted in sky subtraction. In this study, we describe the sky subtraction method designed for the Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope （LAMOST） survey. The method has been integrated into the LAMOST 2D Pipeline v2.6 and applied to data from LAMOST DR3 and later. For LAMOST, calibration using sky emission lines is used to alleviate the position-dependent （and thus time-dependent） ,-~ 4% fiber throughput uncertainty and small wavelength instability （0.1/~） during observation. Sky subtraction using principal component analysis （PCA） further reduces 25% of the sky line residual from OH fines in the red part of LAMOST spectra after the master sky spectrum, which is derived from a B-spline fit of 20 sky fibers in each spectrograph. Using this approach, values are adjusted by a sky emission line and subtracted from each fiber. Further analysis shows that our wavelength calibration accuracy is about 4.5 km s-1, and the averages of residuals after sky subtraction are about 3% for sky emission lines and 3% for the continuum region. The relative sky subtraction residuals vary with moonlight background brightness, and can reach as low as 1.5% for regions that have sky emission lines during a dark night. Tests on F stars with both similar sky emission line strength and similar object continuum intensity show that the sky emission line residual of LAMOST is smaller than that of the SDSS survey.

Operating principles and detection characteristics of the Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer in the Chang'e-3

The Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer （VNIS）, using two acousto-optic tunable filters as dispersive components, consists of a VIS/NIR imag- ing spectrometer （0.45-0.95 μm）, a shortwave IR spectrometer （0.9-2.4 p.m） and a calibration unit with dust-proofing functionality. The VNIS was utilized to detect the spectrum of the lunar surface and achieve in-orbit calibration, which satisfied the re- quirements for scientific detection. Mounted at the front of the Yutu rover, lunar ob- jects that are detected with the VNIS with a 45° visual angle to obtain spectra and ge- ometrical data in order to analyze the mineral composition of the lunar surface. After landing successfully on the Moon, the VNIS performed several explorations and cal- ibrations, and obtained several spectral images and spectral reflectance curves of the lunar soil in the region of Mare Imbrium. This paper describes the working principle and detection characteristics of the VNIS and provides a reference for data processing and scientific applications.

Study of the continuum removal method for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper(M^3) and its application to Mare Humorum and Mare Nubium

The absorption band center of visible and near infrared reflectance spectra is a key spectral parameter for lunar mineralogical studies, especially for the mafic minerals（olivine and pyroxene） of mare basalts, which have two obvious absorption bands at 1000 nm（Band I） and 2000 nm（Band II）. Removal of the continuum from spectra, which was developed by Clark and Roush and used to isolate the particular absorption feature, is necessary to estimate this parameter. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper（M3） data are widely used for lunar mineral identification. However, M3 data show a residual thermal effect, which interferes with the continuum removal, and systematic differences exist among optical data taken during different optical periods. This study investigated a suitable continuum removal method and compared the difference between two sets of M3 data taken during different optical periods, Optical Period 1B（OP1B）and Optical Period 2A（OP2A）. Two programs for continuum removal are reported in this paper. Generally,a program respectively constructs two straight lines across Band I and Band II to remove the continuum,which is recommended for locating band centers, because it can find the same Band I center with different right endpoints. The optimal right endpoint for continuum removal is mainly dominated by two optical period data at approximately 2480 and 2560 nm for OP1 B and OP2 A data, respectively. The band center values derived from OP1 B data are smaller than those derived from OP2 A data in Band I but larger in Band II, especially for the spectra using longer right endpoints（〉2600 nm）. This may be due to the spectral slopes of OP1 B data being steeper than those of OP2 A data in Band I but gentler in Band II. These results were applied to Mare Humorum and Mare Nubium, and the measurements were found to mainly vary from intermediate- to high-Ca pyroxene.

A broadband digital receiving system with large dynamic range for solar radio observation

Solar radio spectra and their temporal evolution provide important clues to understand the energy release and electron acceleration process in the corona,and are commonly used to diagnose critical parameters such as the magnetic field strength.However,previous solar radio telescopes cannot provide high-quality data with complete frequency coverage.Aiming to develop a generalized solar radio observing system,in this study,we designed a digital receiving system that could capture solar radio bursts with a broad bandwidth and a large dynamic range.A dual-channel analog-to-digital converter(ADC)printed circuit board assembly(PCBA)with a sampling rate of 14-bit,1.25 Giga samples per second(GSPS)cooperates with the field-programmable-gate-array(FPGA)chip XC7K410T in the design.This receiver could realize the real-time acquisition and preprocessing of high-speed data of up to 5 GB s^(-1),which ensures high time and spectral resolutions in observations.This receiver has been used in the solar radio spectrometer working in the frequency range of 35 to 40 GHz in Chashan Solar Observatory(CSO)established by Shandong University,and will be further developed and used in the solar radio interferometers.The full-power bandwidth of the PCBA in this receiving system could reach up to 1.5 GHz,and the performance parameters(DC–1.5 GHz)are obtained as follows:spur free dynamic range(SFDR)of 64.7–78.4 dB,signal-to-noise and distortion(SINAD)of 49.1–57.2 dB,and effective number of bits(ENOB)of>7.86 bit.Based on the receiver that we designed,real-time solar microwave dynamic spectra have been acquired and more solar microwave bursts with fine spectral structures are hopeful to be detected in the coming solar maximum.

Method of composing two-dimensional scanned spectra observed by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope

In this paper we illustrate the technique used by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope（NVST）to increase the spatial resolution of two-dimensional（2D）solar spectroscopy observations involving two dimensions of space and one of wavelength.Without an image stabilizer at the NVST,large scale wobble motion is present during the spatial scanning,whose instantaneous amplitude can reach 1.3′′due to the Earth’s atmosphere and the precision of the telescope guiding system,and seriously decreases the spatial resolution of 2D spatial maps composed with scanned spectra.We make the following effort to resolve this problem：the imaging system（e.g.,the Ti O-band）is used to record and detect the displacement vectors of solar image motion during the raster scan,in both the slit and scanning directions.The spectral data（e.g.,the Hαline）which are originally obtained in time sequence are corrected and re-arranged in space according to those displacement vectors.Raster scans are carried out in several active regions with different seeing conditions（two rasters are illustrated in this paper）.Given a certain spatial sampling and temporal resolution,the spatial resolution of the composed 2D map could be close to that of the slit-jaw image.The resulting quality after correction is quantitatively evaluated with two methods.A physical quantity,such as the line-of-sight velocities in multiple layers of the solar atmosphere,is also inferred from the re-arranged spectrum,demonstrating the advantage of this technique.

High-resolution Solar Image Reconstruction Based on Non-rigid Alignment

Suppressing the interference of atmospheric turbulence and obtaining observation data with a high spatial resolution are an issue to be solved urgently for ground observations. One way to solve this problem is to perform a statistical reconstruction of short-exposure speckle images. Combining the rapidity of Shift-Add and the accuracy of speckle masking, this paper proposes a novel reconstruction algorithm-NASIR(Non-rigid Alignment based Solar Image Reconstruction). NASIR reconstructs the phase of the object image at each frequency by building a computational model between geometric distortion and intensity distribution and reconstructs the modulus of the object image on the aligned speckle images by speckle interferometry. We analyzed the performance of NASIR by using the correlation coefficient, power spectrum, and coefficient of variation of intensity profile in processing data obtained by the NVST(1 m New Vacuum Solar Telescope). The reconstruction experiments and analysis results show that the quality of images reconstructed by NASIR is close to speckle masking when the seeing is good, while NASIR has excellent robustness when the seeing condition becomes worse. Furthermore, NASIR reconstructs the entire field of view in parallel in one go, without phase recursion and block-by-block reconstruction, so its computation time is less than half that of speckle masking. Therefore, we consider NASIR is a robust and highquality fast reconstruction method that can serve as an effective tool for data filtering and quick look.

A 3 Giga Sample Per Second 14-bit Digital Receiver with 9 GHz Input Bandwidth for Solar Radio Observation

A new digital receiver with excellent performances has been designed and developed for solar radio observation,which can receive the radio signal from direct current(DC)to 9 GHz in the direct acquisition way.On the digital receiver,the analog-to-digital converter(ADC)with 14-bit,two input channels and 3 Giga Samples per second(Gsps)are used to acquire observed signal,and the field-programmable-gate-array chip XCKU115 acts as the processing module.The new digital receiver can be used to directly sample the solar radio signals of frequency under 9 GHz.When receiving the solar radio signal above 9 GHz,the new digital receiver can save 1–2 stages of frequency down-conversion,and effectively improve many indexes of the solar radio observation system,i.e.,the time resolution,analog front-end circuit,weight and volume of the analog circuit system.Compared with the digital receiver with sampling rate below 1 Gsps used in existing solar radio telescope,the new digital receiver reduces the frequency switching times of large bandwidth,which is beneficial to improving the frequency and time resolutions.The ADC sampling resolution of 14 bits,providing a large dynamic range,is very beneficial to observing smaller solar eruptions.This receiver,which would be used in the solar radio observation system,well meets the latest requirements with the resolutions of time(≤1 ms)and frequency(≤0.5 MHz)for fine observation of radio signals.

LAMOST medium-resolution spectral survey of Galactic nebulae(LAMOST-MRS-N):subtraction of geocoronal Hαemission

We introduce a method of subtracting geocoronal Hαemissions from the spectra of LAMOST medium-resolution spectral survey of Galactic nebulae(LAMOST-MRS-N).The flux ratios of the Hαsky line to the adjacent OHλ6554 single line do not show a pattern or gradient distribution in a plate.More interestingly,the ratio is well correlated to solar altitude,which is the angle of the Sun relative to the Earth’s horizon.It is found that the ratio decreases from 0.8 to 0.2 with the decreasing solar altitude from–17 to–73 degree.Based on this relation,which is described by a linear function,we can construct the Hαsky component and subtract it from the science spectrum.This method has been applied to the LAMOST-MRSN data,and the contamination level of the Hαsky to nebula is reduced from 40%to less than 10%.The new generated spectra will significantly improve the accuracy of the classifications and the measurements of physical parameters of Galactic nebulae.

A fiber bundle structure with uniform transmission characteristics for high-density astronomical optical cables

Transmission efficiency(TE) and focal ratio degradation(FRD) are two important parameters for evaluating the quality of an optical fiber system used for astronomy. Compared to TE, the focal ratio is more easily influenced by external factors, such as bending or stress. Optical cables are widely implemented for multi-object telescopes and integral field units(IFUs). The design and fabrication process of traditional optical cables seldom considers the requirements of astronomical applications. In this paper, we describe a fiber bundle structure as the basic unit for miniaturized high-density FASOT-IFU optical cables,instead of the micro-tube structure in stranded cables. Seven fibers with hexagonal arrangement were accurately positioned by ultraviolet(UV)-curing acrylate to form the bundle. The coating diameter of a fiber is0.125 mm, and the outer diameter of the bundle is 0.58 mm. Compared with the 0.8 mm micro-tube structure of a traditional stranded cable, the outer diameter of the fiber bundle was reduced by 27.5%. Fiber paste was filled into the bundle to reduce stress between the fibers. We tested the output focal ratio(OFR) in95% of the encircled energy(EE95) of the fibers in the bundle under different conditions. With the incident focal ratio F/8, the maximum difference of OFR is 0.6. In particular, when the incident focal ratio is F/5,the maximum difference of OFR is only 0.1. The jacket formed by the UV-curing acrylate can withstand a certain stress of less than 1.38 N mm-1. The fiber bundle can maintain uniform emitting characteristics with a bending radius of 7.5 cm and with tension less than 6 N. The test results show that the structure of the fiber bundle can be used as a basic unit for miniaturized high-density astronomical optical cables.

Study of the Modified Gaussian Model on olivine diagnostic spectral features and its applications in space weathering experiments

The absorption features of olivine in visible and near-infrared(VNIR)reflectance spectra are the key spectral parameters in its mineralogical studies.Generally,these spectral parameters can be obtained by exploiting the Modified Gaussian Model(MGM)with a proper continuum removal.However,different continua may change the deconvolution results of these parameters.This paper investigates the diagnostic spectral features of olivine with diverse chemical compositions.Four different continuum removal methods with MGM for getting the deconvolution results are presented and the regression equations for predicting the Mg-number(Fo#)are introduced.The results show that different continua superimposed on the mineral absorption features will make the absorption center shift,as well as the obvious alterations in shape,width and strength of the absorption band.Additionally,it is also found that the logarithm of a second-order polynomial continuum can match the overall shape of the spectrum in logarithmic space,and the improved regression equations applied to estimate the chemical composition of olivine-dominated spectra also have a better performance.As an application example,the improved approach is applied to pulse laser irradiated olivine grains to simulate and study the space weathering effects on olivine diagnostic spectral features.The experiments confirm that space weathering can make the absorption band center shift toward longer wavelength.Therefore,the Fo#estimated from remote sensing spectra may be less than its actual chemical composition.These results may provide valuable information for revealing the difference between the spectra of olivine grains and olivine-dominated asteroids.

Spectral deconvolution analysis on Olivine-Orthopyroxene mixtures with simulated space weathering modifications

Olivine and pyroxene are important mineral end-members for studying the surface material compositions of mafic bodies.The profiles of visible and near-infrared spectra of olivine-orthopyroxene mixtures systematically vary with their composition ratios.In our experiments,we combine the RELAB spectral database with new spectral data obtained from some assembled olivine-orthopyroxene mixtures.We found that the commonly-used band area ratio(BAR,Cloutis et al.)does not work well on our newly obtained spectral data.To investigate this issue,an empirical procedure based on fitted results by a modified Gaussian model is proposed to analyze the spectral curves.Following the new empirical procedure,the endmember abundances can be estimated with a 15%accuracy with some prior mineral absorption features.In addition,the mixture samples configured in our experiments are also irradiated by pulsed lasers to simulate and investigate the space weathering effects.Spectral deconvolution results confirm that low-content olivine on celestial bodies is difficult to measure and estimate.Therefore,the olivine abundance of space weathered materials may be underestimated from remote sensing data.This study may be utilized to quantify the spectral relationship of olivine-orthopyroxene mixtures and further reveal their correlation between the spectra of ordinary chondrites and silicate asteroids.

Detection and mitigation of RFI in SBRS observation data

In view of the inconsistency of channel gains and a large amount of interference noise in Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer(SBRS) observation data,they will seriously affect the analysis of SBRS data.In this paper,a method of Radio Frequency Interference(RFI) detection and mitigation for SBRS observation data is reported.Firstly,the SBRS observation data are preprocessed,a part of the observation data was selected to calculate the mean and variance to achieve the normalization of the entire observation data,which can avoid the influence of strong noise on the normalization result.Furthermore,we proposed an adaptive threshold RFI detection method based on fusion wavelet transform reconstruction and an RFI elimination method based on neighborhood weighted filling.It is worth mentioning that to detect RFI interference signals of different magnitudes,we adopted an iterative approach to the RFI detection and mitigation process.Through qualitative analysis of real observation data and quantitative analysis of simulated data,it is shown that the method proposed in this paper can effectively eliminate RFI in SBRS observation data,and improve the quality of observation data for further scientific analysis.