The giant coating plant for the Very Large Telescope

View of the upper part of the VLT coating plant. The coating unit is a large vacuum chamber with a diameter of 9.4 meters and a volume of about 122,000 liters. The required ultra-high vacuum is generated by 8 cryo-pumps which are located on top of the vacuum chamber. This support system is fixed on a central shaft which is driven by a high precision motor gear system arranged below the vacuum chamber. The 80 nanometer (80 millionth of a millimeter) thin aluminum coating is produced by utilizing the sputtering technology. During the coating process the mirror is rotated with a speed of 5 revolutions per hour under the sputter source, which is fixed inside the upper half of the vacuum chamber.

Crédito:

ESO

Sobre la imagen

Identificador:eso9711d
Tipo:Fotográfico
Fecha de publicación:16 de Mayo de 1997
Noticias relacionadas:eso9711
Tamaño:560 x 579 px

Sobre el objeto

Nombre:Very Large Telescope
Tipo:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Categoría:Paranal

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