VUV Fourier transform spectroscopy (with imaging)

The concepts of VUV FTS and imaging FTS have become somewhat linked by studies of the feasibility of a satellite-borne imaging FTS combining spectral and spatial resolution, primarily for solar physics. In the recent ESA study (SIMURIS) the main target of such an instrument is the chromospheric emission spectrum from the end of the continuum, about 180 nm, to Lyman alpha at 121 nm. Instrumentally, however, the two concepts are almost independent. I shall treat them as such in this paper, but I will conclude it with a brief discussion of the merits of an imaging FTS relative to those of a grating spectrometer equipped with a similar array detector.