The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) is one of several instruments that will fly on board the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) -R and -S platforms, as part of NOAA's space weather monitoring fleet. SUVI is a Generalized Cassegrain telescope that employs multilayer-coated optics that operate in six extreme ultraviolet (EUV) narrow bandpasses centered at 93.9, 131.2, 171.1, 195.1, 284.2 and 303.8 angstrom. Once operational, over the mission lifetime expected to last up to 10 years, SUVI will record full disk, EUV spectroheliograms every few minutes, where this data will be used to better understand the effects of solar produced EUV radiation on Earth and the near-Earth environment. The material presented herein will touch upon general aspects of the SUVI optical design, as well as the fabrication, super polishing and metrology of the fabricated mirrors, including measured EUV spectral performance.

The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) is one of several instruments being fabricated for use on board the upcoming Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, GOES-R and -S platforms, as part of NOAA's space weather monitoring fleet. SUVI is a Generalized Cassegrain telescope that employs multilayer coatings optimized to operate in six extreme ultraviolet (EUV) narrow bandpasses centered at 93.9, 131.2, 171.1, 195.1, 284.2 and 303.8 angstrom. Over the course of its operational lifetime SUVI will image and record full disk, EUV spectroheliograms approximately every few minutes, and telemeter the data to the ground for digital processing. This data will be useful to scientists and engineers wanting to better understand the effects of solar produced EUV radiation with the near-Earth environment. At the focus of the SUVI telescope is a thin, back-illuminated CCD sensor with 21 mu m (2.5 arc sec) pixels. At the shortest EUV wavelengths, image degradation from mirror surface scatter effects due to residual optical fabrication errors dominate the effects of both diffraction and geometrical aberrations. Discussed herein, we present a novel forward model that incorporates: (i) application of a new unified surface scatter theory valid for moderately rough surfaces to predict the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) produced by each mirror (which uses optical surface metrology to determine the power spectral density, PSD, that characterizes the "smoothness" of an optical surface); (ii) use of the BRDF for each mirror at each EUV wavelength, in tandem with the optical design, to calculate the in-band point spread function (PSF); (iii) use of the PSF to calculate the fractional ensquared energy in the focal plane of SUVI; (iv) comparison of BRDF measurements taken at 93.9 angstrom with the forward model predictions and (v) final prediction of the in-band, total system responsivity.

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We report on observations of a solar active region in May 1992 by the Solar Plasma Diagnostic Experiment (SPDE) in coordination with the Yohkoh satellite (producing soft X-ray images) and ground-based observatories (producing photospheric magnetograms and various filtergrams including those at the CN 3883 A line). The main focus is a study of the physical conditions of hot (T is approximately greater than 3 MK) coronal loops at their foot-points. The coronal part of the loops is fuzzy but what appear to be their footpoints in the transition region down to the photosphere are compact. Despite the morphological similarities, the footpoint emission at 10(exp 5) K is not quantitatively correlated with that at approximately 300 km above the tau (sub 5000) = 1 level, suggesting that the heat transport and therefore magnetic field topology in the intermediate layer is complicated. High resolution imaging observations with continuous temperature coverage are crucially needed.

R-matrix calculations of electron impact excitation rates in Ni xviii are used to derive theoretical electron-temperature-sensitive emission line ratios involving 3s−4p,3p−4d,3p −4s, and 3d−4f transitions in the 41–53 Å wavelength range. A comparison of these with solar flare observations from a rocket-borne X-ray spectrograph (XSST) reveals generally excellent agreement between theory and experiment (within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties), which provides support for the atomic data adopted in the analysis. However the 3s 2S−4p 2P1/2 line of Ni xviii at 41.22 Å appears to be blended with the Fe xix 13.74 Å feature observed by XSST in third order. In addition, the measured Ni xviii intensity ratio I(3p 2P3/2− 4s 2S)/I(3p 2P1/2−4s 2S)=I(51.02 Å)/I(50.26 Å)=0.56, a factor of ∼3.8 smaller than the theoretical (temperature and density-insensitive) value of 2.1. The reason for this discrepancy is currently unexplained, but is unlikely to be due to blending of the 50.26 Å line, as the intensity of this feature is consistent with that expected from the other Ni xviii lines in the XSST spectrum. Future observations of the Ni xviii lines by the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) should allow this problem to be resolved, and may also permit the use of the lines as electron-temperature diagnostics.

The Transition Region and Coronal Explorer is a space-borne solar telescope featuring high spatial and temporal resolution. TRACE images emission from solar plasmas in three extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths and several ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, covering selected ion temperatures from 6000 K to 1 MK. The TRACE UV channel employs special optics to collect high-resolution solar images of the H i Lα line at 1216 Å, the C iv resonance doublet at 1548 and 1550 Å, the UV continuum near 1550 Å, and also a white-light image covering the spectrum from 2000–8000 Å.

We have calculated intensity ratios for emission lines of Fexviii in the 13–94 Å wavelength range at electron temperatures characteristic of the solar corona, Te = 2–10 x 106 K. Our model ion includes data for transitions among the 2s22p5 , 2s2p6, 2s22p43l, and 2s2p53l (l = s, p, and d) states. Test calculations which omit the 2s2p53l levels show that cascades from these are important. We compare our results with observed ratios determined from four solar X-ray instruments, a rocket-borne spectrograph, and spectrometers on the P78–1, OV1–17 and Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellites. In addition, we have generated synthetic spectra which we compare directly with flare observations from SMM. Agreement between theory and observation is generally quite good, with differences that are mostly less than 30%, providing limited support for the accuracy of the atomic physics data used in our calculations. However, large discrepancies are found for ratios involving the 2s22p52P3/2- 2s2p62S line at 93.84 Å, which currently remain unexplained. Our analysis indicates that the FeXVIII feature at 15.83 Å is the 2s22p52P3/2 - 2s22p4(3P)3s 4P3/2 transition, rather than 2s22p52P3/2 - 2s22p4(3P)3s 2P3/2, as suggested by some authors.

We have examined images of 10 flares observed by the Soft X-ray Telescope on-board the Yohkoh spacecraft. These images show that the hottest portion of the soft X-ray flare is located in compact regions that appear to be situated at the tops of loops. These compact regions form at, or shortly after, flare onset, and persist well into the decay phase of the flares. In some cases, the compact regions are only a few thousand kilometers in size and are small compared to the lengths of flaring loops. This is inconsistent with the smoother intensity distribution along the loops expected from models of chromospheric evaporation.

We have examined images of 10 flares observed by the Soft X-ray Telescope on-board the Yohkoh spacecraft. These images show that the hottest portion of the soft X-ray flare is located in compact regions that appear to be situated at the tops of loops. These compact regions form at, or shortly after, flare onset, and persist well into the decay phase of the flares. In some cases, the compact regions are only a few thousand kilometers in size and are small compared to the lengths of flaring loops. This is inconsistent with the smoother intensity distribution along the loops expected from models of chromospheric evaporation.