Description
The European Solar Telescope (EST) project is aimed at the realization of a solar telescope with a 4.2 m primary mirror and on-axis Gregorian configuration optimized for spectropolarimetric investigation of the solar plasma. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugated adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design, innovative internal seeing mitigation techniques (Heat Rejecter based on Multiple Impingement), and a suite of focal plane instruments containing Tunable Imaging Spectropolarimeters and Integral Field Unit Spectropolarimeters operating simultaneously for high-cadence observations in the 390-2300 nm range. Since 2016 EST is included in the ESFRI Roadmap as one of the scientific infrastructures considered strategic for Europe.
