Method for optical characterization of large mirrors by recording the reflected light from a star.

摘要

Process for the optical characterization of large mirrors by recording the reflected light from a star.; Process for the optical characterization of large mirrors by recording the reflected light from a star. By registering with a CCD camera reflected light from a star in the mirror, the components of the normal vector of the mirror at numerous points are determined. For this camera, located in the focal region or region of concentration of the mirror and pointing it takes images of the mirror itself recording the bright areas due to the reflection of light from the star. Several methods to easily get a large number of images and thus high accuracy in the characterization are described. The method enables full optical characterization of any mirror whose focal length and size are much larger than the input diaphragm of the camera.; In particular, this method solar concentrators to measure the spatial distribution of light intensity in the region of concentration and determine offset errors, and test the quality of canting faceted mirrors.