Stray light analysis of the Xinglong 2.16m telescope

TL;DR

This study analyzes the stray light performance of the Xinglong 2.16m telescope, identifying main sources and proposing design improvements to reduce stray light, thereby enhancing observational quality.

Contribution

It provides a detailed stray light analysis of the Xinglong 2.16m telescope and suggests a simple modification to significantly improve stray light suppression.

Findings

PSNIT values are below 10^-7 for off-axis angles over 20°

Adding 5 vanes inside the secondary baffle reduces stray light by about 40%

Main stray light contributors are the mirrors, structure, and dome

Abstract

An effort towards understanding of the stray light problems for the Xinglong 2.16-m telescope was presented to estimate the stray light performance of the telescope itself and provide a method for improving the stray light suppression. The stray light analysis for 2.16-m telescope model, which consists the onion shaped dome, telescope structure, equatorial mount and telescope optics, has been performed with two cases (1) point to 60{\deg} and (2) point to zenith, in both azimuth and elevation direction. The Point Source Normalized Irradiance Transmittance (PSNIT), which is generally used for assessing stray light and uncorrelated to entrance aperture, was calculated with a series of off-axis angles. It shows that the PSNIT values are less than 10-7 when off-axis angles are larger than 20{\deg}. The dominant contributors of stray light (primary and secondary mirror, telescope structure and dome) were identified to give advice for performance improvement. The analyses indicate that significant benefit can be realized with adding only 5 vanes inside the bottom portion of the secondary baffle. In the case of point to zenith, the PSNIT values will decrease about 40% at average.