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Design of light concentrators for Cherenkov telescope observatories
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the largest cosmic gamma ray
detector ever built in the world. It will be installed at two different sites
in the North and South hemispheres and should be operational for about 30
years. In order to cover the desired energy range, the CTA is composed of
typically 50-100 collecting telescopes of various sizes (from 6 to 24-m
diameters). Most of them are equipped with a focal plane camera consisting of
1500 to 2000 Photomultipliers (PM) equipped with light concentrating optics,
whose double function is to maximize the amount of Cherenkov light detected by
the photo-sensors, and to block any stray light originating from the
terrestrial environment. Two different optical solutions have been designed,
respectively based on a Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC), and on a purely
dioptric concentrating lens. In this communication are described the technical
specifications, optical designs and performance of the different solutions
envisioned for all these light concentrators. The current status of their
prototyping activities is also given
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