China'sAIMStelescopeachievesbreakthroughinmeasuringsolarmagneticfield_GuangmingOnlineXINING,Jan.29(Xinhua)--Theworld'sfirstsolarmagnetic-fieldtelescopeworkinginthemid-infraredwavelengthhasachievedabreakthroughbyimprovingitsmeasurementaccuracy,accordingtoChinesescientists.Thetelescope,knownastheAccurateInfraredMagneticFieldMeasurementsoftheSun(AIMS),isamajorprojectsupportedbytheNationalNaturalScienceFoundationofChina.ItislocatedintheLenghutownshipinnorthwestChina'sQinghaiProvince,atanaveragealtitudeofabout4,000meters.ScientificdatashowsthattheAIMStelescopehascarriedoutprecisemeasurementsofsolarvectormagneticfieldsforthefirsttimewithanaccuracyexceedingthe10Gausslevel,saidWangDongguang,chiefengineerofHuairouSolarObservingStationofNationalAstronomicalObservatories,undertheChineseAcademyofSciences."Thismeansthatthetelescopehasachievedtheexpectedgoalofdirectlymeasuringthesolarmagneticfieldintensityinthemid-infraredbandusingasupernarrow-bandFourierspectrometer,"Wangsaid.Wangaddedthatthisachievementhasbrokenthroughthebottleneckprobleminthecentury-longhistoryofsolarmagneticfieldmeasurementsbyachievingaleapfromindirecttodirectmeasurement.TheAIMStelescopeistheworld'sfirstdevicededicatedtoobservingthemid-infraredsolarmagneticfieldanditaimstorevealthemysteriesoftheSuninthemid-infraredband."Throughopticaldesigntoeliminatestraylightandtechnologiessuchasvacuumcooling,wehavesolvedthechallengesfacedbyinfraredsolarobservationsinthisband,suchashighenvironmentalbackgroundnoiseanddetectorperformancedegradation,"saidFengZhiwei,aseniorengineeratNationalAstronomicalObservatories.Fengaddedthattheinfraredimagingterminalofthetelescopeconsistsofthreesystems,namely,infraredoptics,focalplanearraydetectorandvacuumcooling,andallcomponents,includingthedetectorchip,aredomesticallymade.Inadditiontoitsroleinthemeasurementofsolarmagneticfields,theAIMStelescopecanalsoexplorenewscientificavenuesinthemiddle-infraredband,accordingtoWang.Editor:DisclaimerTheviewsandopinionsexpressedinthisarticlearethoseoftheauthor's,GMW.cnmakesnorepresentationsastoaccuracy,suitability,orvalidityofanyinformationonthissiteandwillnotbeliableforanyerrors,omissions,ordelaysinthisinformation.