The Galway astronomical Stokes polarimeter: an all-Stokes optical polarimeter with ultra-high time resolution

Collins, Patrick P.; Kyne, Gillian; Lara, David; Redfern, M.; Shearer, A.; Sheehan, B.

doi:10.1007/s10686-013-9342-5

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Optical polarimetry observations of the Crab pulsar were taken on 2012 November 12 using GASP (Collins et al 2013) on the 200 Hale telescope. Although GASP is normally capable of faster observations these were time averaged with an exposure time of 3 minutes using an R band filter centred at 650 nm.…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A recent change in the optical and γ-ray polarization of the Crab nebula and pulsar

Moran¹,

Kyne²,

Gouiffès³

et al. 2015

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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We report on observations of the polarization of optical and γ-ray photons from the Crab nebula and pulsar system using the Galway Astronomical Stokes Polarimeter (GASP), the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) and the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory satellite (Integral). These, when combined with other optical polarization observations, suggest that the polarized optical emission and γ-ray polarization changes in a similar manner. A change in the optical polarization angle has been observed by this work, from 109.5 ± 0.7 • in 2005 to 85.3 ± 1.4 • in 2012. On the other hand, the γ-ray polarization angle changed from 115 ± 11 • in 2003-2007 to 80 ± 12 • in 2012-2014. Strong flaring activities have been detected in the Crab nebula over the past few years by the high energy γ-ray missions Agile and Fermi, and magnetic reconnection processes have been suggested to explain these observations. The change in the polarized optical and γ-ray emission of the Crab nebula/pulsar as observed, for the first time, by GASP and Integral may indicate that reconnection is possibly at work in the Crab nebula. We also report, for the first time, a non-zero measure of the optical circular polarization from the Crab pulsar+knot system.

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Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A recent change in the optical and γ-ray polarization of the Crab nebula and pulsar

Moran¹,

Kyne²,

Gouiffès³

et al. 2015

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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“…The GASP polarimeter (Collins et al, 2013;Kyne et al, 2016) is a DOAP (division of amplitude polarimeter) which uses two EMCCDs with a timing resolution down to 500 microseconds. It measures both linear and circular polarization simultaneously with no moving parts.…”

Section: High-speed Broadband Polarimeters For the Optical Wavelengthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Polarimetry: Methods, Instruments and Calibration Techniques

Berdyugin

Piirola

Poutanen

2019

Astrophysics and Space Science Library

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In this chapter we present a brief summary of methods, instruments and calibration techniques used in modern astronomical polarimetry in the optical wavelengths. We describe the properties of various polarization devices and detectors used for optical broadband, imaging and spectropolarimetry, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. The necessity of a proper calibration of the raw polarization data is emphasized and methods of the determination and subtraction of instrumental polarization are considered. We also present a few examples of high-precision measurements of optical polarization of black hole X-ray binaries and massive binary stars made with our DiPol-2 polarimeter, which allowed us to constrain the sources of optical emission in black hole X-ray binaries and measure orbital parameters of massive stellar binaries.

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“…Recently, [28] reported on a possible correlated variation of the Crab polarisation position angle both in the optical and in the soft gamma-rays by comparing multi-epoch measurements obtained with the HST and the Galway Astronomical Stoke Polarimeter (GASP; [29]) at the 5m Hale telescope and the Integral/IBIS instrument. More interestingly, these variations seemed to occur in coincidence with high-energy gamma-ray flaring events from the Crab Nebula detected by the Fermi satellite.…”

Section: Rpp Gamma-ray Polarimetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Wavelength Polarimetry of Isolated Neutron Stars

Mignani

2018

Galaxies

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Isolated Neutron Stars are known to be endowed with extreme magnetic fields, whose maximum intensity ranges from 10 12 to 10 15 G, which permeates their magnetospheres. Their surrounding environment is also strongly magnetised, especially in the compact nebulae powered by the relativistic wind from young neutron stars. The radiation from isolated neutron stars and their surrounding nebulae is, thus, supposed to bring a strong polarisation signature. Measuring the neutron star polarisation brings important information on the properties of their magnetosphere and of their highly magnetised environment. Being the most numerous class of isolated neutron stars, polarisation measurements have been traditionally carried out for radio pulsars, hence in the radio band. In this review, I summarise multi-wavelength linear polarisation measurements obtained at wavelengths other than radio both for pulsars and other types of isolated neutron stars and outline future perspectives with the upcoming observing facilities.

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The Galway astronomical Stokes polarimeter: an all-Stokes optical polarimeter with ultra-high time resolution

Cited by 27 publications

References 48 publications

A recent change in the optical and γ-ray polarization of the Crab nebula and pulsar

A recent change in the optical and γ-ray polarization of the Crab nebula and pulsar

Optical Polarimetry: Methods, Instruments and Calibration Techniques

Multi-Wavelength Polarimetry of Isolated Neutron Stars

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