The multicolor panoramic photometer-polarimeter with high time resolution based on the PSD

Multicolor panoramic photometer-polarimeter (MPPP) with a time resolution of 1 μs has been built based on a position-sensitive detector (PSD) and used at the 6-m telescope in SAO (Russia). The device allows registration of the photon fluxes in four photometric bands simultaneously and finding values of 3 Stokes parameters. MPPP consists of PSD, acquisition MANIA-system, polarization unit and a set of dichroic filters. MPPP gives a possibility of detecting photons in 2 pupils with a size of 10–15 arcsec centered on the object and comparison star positions simultaneously. The first half of the object photon flux passes through the phase rotating plate and polarizer, and the second one through the polarizer alone. MPPP registers in each of the 4 filters four images of the object with different orientations of polarization plane and one image of a comparison star. It allows measuring instantaneous Stokes parameters. The main astrophysical problems to be solved with MPPP are as follows: investigation of optical pulsars; study of GRB phenomenon in the optical range; searching for single black holes; study of fast variability of X-ray binaries. As an illustration of MPPP use, the results of observations at the 6-m telescope of Crab pulsar and soft gamma repeater are presented.