Electron microscopy studies of contaminated telescope mirror samples exposed at Paranal

Guido Willers; Ronald Holzlöhner; Volker Naumann; Stefan Schwinde; Stéphane Guisard

doi:10.1117/12.2627690

29 August 2022 Electron microscopy studies of contaminated telescope mirror samples exposed at Paranal

Guido Willers, Ronald Holzlöhner, Volker Naumann, Stefan Schwinde, Stéphane Guisard

Proceedings Volume 12188, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation V; 121881Z (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2627690
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract

Telescope mirrors typically consist of glass-ceramic substrates coated with a thin layer of aluminum or protected silver. Airborne contaminants on such surfaces can significantly degrade their reflectivity, IR emissivity and light scattering properties and cause damage such as pinholes. After exposing mirror samples near the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, we investigated the contaminant formation at the microstructural level using electron microscopy. We show contaminant damage mechanisms on aluminum coated compared to protected silver mirror samples.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Guido Willers, Ronald Holzlöhner, Volker Naumann, Stefan Schwinde, and Stéphane Guisard "Electron microscopy studies of contaminated telescope mirror samples exposed at Paranal", Proc. SPIE 12188, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation V, 121881Z (29 August 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2627690

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