Optical alignment and testing of the Diffuse IR Background Experiment IR cryogenic telescope

Abstract

Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) optical alignment and testing methods are discussed. Using strobe videography, vibration and performance testing of a 32 hz tuning-fork chopper was carried out. The Cosmic Background explorer satellite provides improved microwave and IR all-sky maps of the cosmic background radiation from a polar orbit. A liquid helium cryostat houses the DIRBE and the Far IR Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) instruments at a temperature of 2 K. Differential MicRowave Radiometers (DMRs) provide large scale maps of anisotropy of the 3 K background at wavelengths of 3.3, 5.7, and 9.6 mm. The DIRBE telescope is an IR photometric instrument with 10 wavelength bands between 1 and 300 microns, designed to measure radiation from the epoch of galaxy formation. Stringent stray light requirements mean that the DIRBE flight instrument has to be built and tested in a class 100 environment.