The Cherenkov optics qualification facilities at INAF-OAB laboratories.

In the last decade the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera of the Italain Institute for Astrophysics, INAF, got deeply involved in Cherenkov optics manufacturing and testing, contributing to the realization of mirrors for MAGIC and CTA projects. In this contribution we review the characterization facilities that INAF-OAB developed to qualify the performance of Cherenkov mirrors. The design of these facilities was driven by the general Cherenkov optics configuration, realized with a large number of mirrors with arc-minutes resolution. The capability to obtain arc-minutes resolution characterization in a short measuring time is hence a driving concept for an efficient Cherenkov mirror qualification facility. The first facility implemented by INAF-OAB for Cherenkov optics is an outdoor 2f optical bench. Nevertheless, the 2f optical method permits to manage exclusively focusing optics. On the other hand, the introduction of novel optical design for Cherenkov telescopes, like the Schwarzschild–Couder design, creates the necessity to qualify free-form non-focusing optics. For this reason the INAF-OAB developed a flexible deflectometry setup capable to qualify any kind of Cherenkov optics. In this contribution we will describe these facilities, present some measurement results and discuss the wide range of possible applications they offer. • Qualification facilities developed at INAF-OAB for Cherenkov mirrors qualification. • Optical facility working in 2f configuration for the study of spherical mirrors PSF. • Deflectometry facility for free-form mirrors surface metrology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]