Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave
DOI: 10.1117/12.857695
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We describe a prototype of an illumination system, the Ring of Fire (ROF), which is used as part of an internal calibration system for large focal plane detector arrays in TMA (Three Mirror Anastigmat) telescope designs. Such designs have been proposed for the SNAP (SuperNova Acceleration Probe) version of a Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM). The ROF system illuminates the focal plane with a light beam the closely matches that of the telescope and is used for creating high spatial frequency flat fields and monitoring filter bandpasses for experiments that demand a highly accurate characterization of the detectors. We present measurements of a mockup of this prototype ROF design including studies in variations in illumination across a large focal plane.