An Observational Method to Prevent Cross-Talk and Calibrate Mof-Based Instruments

We present a method for calibrating every instrument working with magneto-optical filter (MOF) technology, in order to take into account the effect in the observations due to the aging of the vapour cells. The method allows the evaluation of some characteristics of the transmission profile by modelling the blue and/or the red line intensity images acquired with the MOF system. In particular, it reveals the presence of unwanted spurious transmissions and prevents cross-talk between the intensity and velocity fluctuations. The method also gives information about the position of the “working point” of the instrument, i.e. the average wavelength position of its transmission profile, which is necessary for estimating the right solar atmospheric layer observed by the MOF. This analysis is powerful and fast: applied before every observing campaign, it enables setting Q the most suitable value for the cell temperature, which is one of the parameters that controls the MOF transmission profile.