Optical Design of the far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph

Abstract

We present the design specifications and the performance estimation of the FUVS (Far Ultraviolet Spectrograph) proposed for the observations of aurora, day/night airglow and astronomical objects on small satelltes in the spectral range of . The design of FUVS is carried out with the full consideration of optical characteristics of the grating and the aspheric substrate. Two independent methods, ray-tracing and the wave front aberration theory, are employed to estimate the performance of the optical design and it is verified that both procedures yield the resolution of in the entire spectral range. MDF (Minimum Detectable Flux) is also estimated using the known characteristics of the reflecting material and MCP, to study the feasibility of detection for faint emission lines from the hot interstellar plasmas. The results give that the observations from 1 day to 1 week, depending on the line intensity, can detect such faint emission lines from diffuse interstellar plasmas.