Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and BAE Systems have developed an innovative, six-millimeter optical component, called a metasurface polarization grating, which is poised to transform how future space missions study the Sun.
This new technology stands apart from traditional instruments by enabling the simultaneous separation of incoming light into multiple polarization channels within a single snapshot, rather than measuring polarization in only one direction at a time. The ability to capture all this data at once—without rotating or moving parts—means the metasurface eliminates image blurring caused by spacecraft vibrations, while also significantly reducing hardware complexity and cost. The team successfully tested this space-qualified device at the Dunn Solar Telescope in New Mexico, gathering solar magnetic field data that closely matched NASA’s existing observations.
Originally developed under the NASA Heliophysics Technology (HESTO) Heliophysics Technology and Instrument Development for Science (H-TIDeS) program with Principal Investigator, Roberto Casini of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), this compact innovation has now been selected for a Phase A study by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for a PHOtospheric Magnetograph Imager (PHOMI) on upcoming Space Weather Geostationary (SWGEO) satellites.
This NOAA announcement provides additional information about recent PHOMI study awards.
NASA Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Disclosure: This article was created with assistance from AI (ChatGSFC) to summarize content from multiple sources. The resulting content has been reviewed and edited by the author team.