Construction of a medium-sized Schwarzschild-Couder telescope as a candidate for the Cherenkov Telescope Array: development of the optical alignment system

D. Nieto; S. Griffiths; B. Humensky; P. Kaaret; M. Limon; I. Mognet; A. Peck; A. Petrashyk; D. Ribeiro; J. Rousselle; B. Stevenson; V. Vassiliev; P. Yu

arXiv · 1509.02463

Construction of a medium-sized Schwarzschild-Couder telescope as a candidate for the Cherenkov Telescope Array: development of the optical alignment system

D. Nieto·S. Griffiths·B. Humensky·P. Kaaret·M. Limon·I. Mognet·A. Peck·A. Petrashyk·D. Ribeiro·J. Rousselle·B. Stevenson·V. Vassiliev·P. Yu

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Abstract

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is an international project for a next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory. CTA, conceived as an array of tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, comprising small, medium and large-size telescopes, is aiming to improve on the sensitivity of current-generation experiments by an order of magnitude and provide energy coverage from 20 GeV to more than 300 TeV. The Schwarzschild-Couder (SC) medium-size candidate telescope model features a novel aplanatic two-mirror optical design capable of a wide field-of-view with significantly improved imaging resolution as compared to the traditional Davis-Cotton optics design. Achieving this imaging resolution imposes strict alignment requirements to be accomplished by a dedicated alignment system. In this contribution we present the status of the development of the SC optical alignment system, soon to be materialized in a full-scale prototype SC medium-size telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona.

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D. Nieto, S. Griffiths, B. Humensky, P. Kaaret, M. Limon, I. Mognet, A. Peck, A. Petrashyk, D. Ribeiro, J. Rousselle, B. Stevenson, V. Vassiliev, P. Yu. 2015-09-08. Construction of a medium-sized Schwarzschild-Couder telescope as a candidate for the Cherenkov Telescope Array: development of the optical alignment system. https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.02463

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