The objective of the aluminizing plant is to deposit a thin layer of reflective aluminum on an astronomical mirror. To do this, once the deteriorated layer has been removed, the mirror without its reflective layer is introduced into the aluminizing chamber where an aluminum evaporation process is carried out under high vacuum conditions. The IAC aluminizing plant has the capacity to coat mirrors up to 2.5 m in diameter. The vacuum level required before evaporation is 1x10-5 mbar and for this purpose there are two mechanical and a diffuser pumps, in addition to sensors, valves and other necessary devices. The plant has a control system based on PLC. Usually, mirrors are aluminized once a year or year and a half and the aluminizing process, including the initial cleaning of the mirror, takes 2 to 3 days, without considering the time of transport to the observatory.
The Instrument Maintenance Workshop performs the maintenance tasks of the telescopes and the astronomical instrumentation of the IAC.
Evaporator machine for the manufacture of optical coatings
Device dedicated to the measurement of the quality of mirrored surfaces.
The purpose of the AIV Room is the assembly, integration and verification of instrumentation for large telescopes.