Simulation of the optical performance of the Fluorescence detector Array of Single-pixel Telescopes

¹ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
² Department of Physics, University of Adelaide
³ Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
⁴ Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
⁵ Palacky University, RCPTM
⁶ High Energy Astrophysics Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah

https://www.fast-project.org

Published online: 17 May 2019

Abstract

The Fluorescence detector Array of Single-pixel Telescopes (FAST) is a proposed large-area, next-generation experiment for the detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays via the atmospheric fluorescence technique. The telescope’s large field-of-view (30 ×30) is imaged by four 200 mm photomultiplier-tubes at the focal plane of a segmented spherical mirror of 1.6 m diameter. Two prototypes are installed and taking data at the Black Rock Mesa site of the Telescope Array experiment in central Utah, USA. We present the process used for optimization of the optical performance of this compact and low-cost telescope, which is based on a simulation of the telescope’s optical point spread function.