Evaluation of Silver Based Astronomical Telescope Coatings

Overview

Objectives/Goals This project attempts to construct a multilayered coating, consisting of silver and other materials, for use in a telescope. The goals of this design are to maximize reflectivity of the telescope and to have a highly durable coating. Methods/Materials The coating lab at UCO Lick, University of California, Santa Cruz was the primary lab for this project. Various oxides, fluorides and nitrides, silver and aluminum were used for the coatings. Construct various combinations of these materials on top of silver and measure their optical and physical properties. Results The twenty materials originally selected were narrowed down to four for a final shortlist. These materials performed the best optically (when their reflectivity was tested) and physically (when subject to environmental stress). Conclusions/Discussion These results will be used in an upcoming paper about implementation of the coatings. This project gave the other researchers a material library from which to work.

Awards (1)

• First Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2016 Physics & Astronomy · Entry S1702

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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