Instrument

A possible polarimetry upgrade for FIES was discussed with Nikolai Piskunov & Andrey Dolgopolov from Uppsala University. They concluded that it is possible to mount a small polarimetry unit consisting of 2 sets of retarder+splitter on a slide in the adapter. In principle this unit will be constructed by then and tests were foreseen later in the year.

The initialisation switch and encoder electronics of the instrument focus mechanism of FIES were damage. Both the switch and the electronics were replaced, but a different type of switch had to be used which turned out to have the reverse logic of the original switch. With the working encoder it was possible to refocus but we do not know the precise position so this would have to be redone manually if we would loose the focus. The software now needs to be changed such that the mechanism can be initialised using the reversed logic. It is not clear what broke these items of the focus-drive, but some of these items have been broken once before by lightning.