Bidimensional analysis of solar active regions and flares

We describe a method of solar bidimensional spectroscopy exploiting the performances of a Universal Birefringent Filter (UBF) like that of the Sacramento Peak Observatory, which enable an estimate of the profile of some chromospheric lines with moderate spectral resolution ( \((\lambda /\Delta \lambda = 2.5 x 10^4 )\) ). The numerical inversion technique of Backus and Gilbert has been used to retrieve the estimated line profiles; the capabilities of the proposed method is fully analyzed with some numerical tests and examples. Correction procedures for errors in the positions of the UBF passband, random fluctuations of the exposure times and non-uniform brightness distribution on the filtergrams are also presented. The whole method has been tested on the recovery of quiet atmosphere line profiles and the results derived for the Na D₂ line show that the proposed method is completely suitable for many investigations in solar physics.