A&A 533, A82 (2011) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201117305 & c ESO 2011 Astrophysics A tilted interference filter in a converging beam M. G. Löfdahl1,2,V.M.J.Henriques1,2, and D. Kiselman1,2 1 Institute for Solar Physics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, AlbaNova University Center, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Stockholm Observatory, Dept. of Astronomy, Stockholm University, AlbaNova University Center, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Received 20 May 2011 / Accepted 26 July 2011 ABSTRACT Context. Narrow-band interference filters can be tuned toward shorter wavelengths by tilting them from the perpendicular to the optical axis. This can be used as a cheap alternative to real tunable filters, such as Fabry-Pérot interferometers and Lyot filters. At the Swedish 1-meter Solar Telescope, such a setup is used to scan through the blue wing of the Ca ii H line. Because the filter is mounted in a converging beam, the incident angle varies over the pupil, which causes a variation of the transmission over the pupil, different for each wavelength within the passband. This causes broadening of the filter transmission profile and degradation of the image quality. Aims. We want to characterize the properties of our filter, at normal incidence as well as at different tilt angles. Knowing the broadened profile is important for the interpretation of the solar images. Compensating the images for the degrading effects will improve the resolution and remove one source of image contrast degradation. In particular, we need to solve the latter problem for images that are also compensated for blurring caused by atmospheric turbulence.