Optics Lab

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.