Optical equipment located in this lab space and tools developed, using DOE funds, allows for optical characterization of heliostat and dish facets. These flexible analytical tools, along with the on-site expertise currently support the evaluation and development of low-cost, high-performance heliostat facets. The tools are also applicable to assembly/production line environments. In addition, field support for characterization and alignment of CSP systems is provided. SOFAST, a highly accurate fringe-reflection-based measurement tool, is used to characterize and set the focus heliostat facets in the laboratory. H-FACET is an optical-based alignment tool that is used to efficiently re-align the facets after re-attaching them to the heliostat. AIMFAST is used to characterize dish facets and align dish systems.
![CSP Optics Lab](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130218181148im_/http://energy.sandia.gov/wp/wp-content/gallery/uploads/IMG_0248-300x200.jpg)
![CSP Optics Lab](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130218181148im_/http://energy.sandia.gov/wp/wp-content/gallery/uploads/IMG_0276-300x200.jpg)
![CSP Optics Lab](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130218181148im_/http://energy.sandia.gov/wp/wp-content/gallery/uploads/IMG_0285-300x200.jpg)