Liquid mirrors: a progress report

Ermanno F. Borra; Robert Content; Mark R. Drinkwater; Luc Girard; Louise Tremblay; Stan Szapiel; Brad K. Gibson; Paul Hickson; Christopher L. Morbey

doi:10.1117/12.19199

1 July 1990 Liquid mirrors: a progress report

Ermanno F. Borra, Robert Content, Mark R. Drinkwater, Luc Girard, Louise Tremblay, Stan Szapiel, Brad K. Gibson, Paul Hickson, Christopher L. Morbey

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 1236, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes IV; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19199
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation for the 21st Century, 1990, Tucson, AZ, United States

Abstract

Since liquid mirrors are potentially useful in science (e.g., astronomy, atmospheric sciences, and optical testing), work has been undertaken to determine whether they are technologically feasible. A testing tower has been equipped with a scatterplate interferometer interfaced with a CCD for data acquisition and a microcomputer for data analysis. This equipment was used to test a 1.5-m-diameter f/2 liquid mirror, showing that it is diffraction limited; interferometric measurements give Strehl ratios of order 0.8. A 2.7-m-diameter liquid mirror and astronomical observatory presently under construction is briefly described.

Citation Download Citation

Ermanno F. Borra, Robert Content, Mark R. Drinkwater, Luc Girard, Louise Tremblay, Stan Szapiel, Brad K. Gibson, Paul Hickson, and Christopher L. Morbey "Liquid mirrors: a progress report", Proc. SPIE 1236, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes IV, (1 July 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19199

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