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Free keywords:
Astrophysics, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, astro-ph.IM, Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, astro-ph.HE
MPINP:
CTA - Abteilung Hofmann
Abstract:
We present the design and the status of procurement of the optical system of
the prototype Schwarzschild-Couder telescope (pSCT), for which construction is
scheduled to begin in fall at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern
Arizona, USA. The Schwarzschild-Couder telescope is a candidate for the
medium-sized telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array, which utilizes
imaging atmospheric Cherenkov techniques to observe gamma rays in the energy
range of 60Gev-60TeV. The pSCT novel aplanatic optical system is made of two
segmented aspheric mirrors. The primary mirror has 48 mirror panels with an
aperture of 9.6 m, while the secondary, made of 24 panels, has an diameter of
5.4 m. The resulting point spread function (PSF) is required to be better than
4 arcmin within a field of view of 6.4 degrees (80% of the field of view),
which corresponds to a physical size of 6.4 mm on the focal plane. This goal
represents a challenge for the inexpensive fabrication of aspheric mirror
panels and for the precise alignment of the optical system as well as for the
rigidity of the optical support structure. In this submission we introduce the
design of the Schwarzschild-Couder optical system and describe the solutions
adopted for the manufacturing of the mirror panels and their integration with
the optical support structure.
