Novel Back-coated Glass Mirrors for the MAGIC Telescopes
Martin Will, Juliane van Scherpenberg, Razmik Mirzoyan, Markus, Garczarczyk (on behalf of the MAGIC collaboration)
TL;DR
This paper introduces a new back-coated glass mirror design for MAGIC telescopes that is easier to clean and more resistant to environmental degradation, aiming to maintain high reflectivity over time.
Contribution
It presents a novel mirror design with a back-coated ultra-thin glass sheet, tested in laboratory and on-site, to improve durability and maintain reflectivity in harsh conditions.
Findings
Laboratory tests show high reflectivity and focusing performance.
On-site long-term tests indicate reduced degradation.
The new mirrors are easily cleaned with household tools.
Abstract
The mirrors installed on Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes like the MAGIC telescopes in La Palma, Canary Islands, are constantly exposed to the harsh environment. They have to withstand wind-induced corrosion from dust and sand, changing temperatures, and rain. Because of the size of the telescope, protecting the structure with a dome is not practical. The current mirrors used in MAGIC are aluminum front-coated glass mirrors, covered by a thin quartz layer. But even with this protective layer, significant decrease in reflectivity can be seen on timescales of several years. The quartz layer is very delicate and can be easily scratched or damaged, which also makes cleaning the mirrors almost impossible. We have tested a novel design of glass mirrors that can be easily cleaned and should show almost no degradation in reflectivity due to environmental influences. The protective layer…
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