Compliant deformable mirror approach for wavefront improvement

James H. Clark III; F. Ernesto Penado

doi:10.1117/1.OE.55.4.043107

28 April 2016 Compliant deformable mirror approach for wavefront improvement

James H. Clark III, F. Ernesto Penado

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 55, Issue 4, 043107 (April 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.55.4.043107

Abstract

We describe a compliant static deformable mirror approach to reduce the wavefront concavity at the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI). A single actuator pressing on the back surface of just one of the relay mirrors deforms the front surface in a correcting convex shape. Our design uses the mechanical advantage gained from a force actuator sandwiched between a rear flexure plate and the back surface of the mirror. We superimpose wavefront contour measurements with our finite element deformed mirror model. An example analysis showed improvement from 210-nm concave–concave wavefront to 51-nm concave–concave wavefront. With our present model, a 100-nm actuator increment displaces the mirror surface by 1.1 nm. We describe the need for wavefront improvement that arises from the NPOI reconfigurable array, offer a practical design approach, and analyze the support structure and compliant deformable mirror using the finite element method. We conclude that a 20.3-cm-diameter, 1.9-cm-thick Zerodur^® mirror shows that it is possible to deform the reflective surface and cancel out three-fourths of the wavefront deformation without overstressing the material.

Citation Download Citation

James H. Clark III and F. Ernesto Penado "Compliant deformable mirror approach for wavefront improvement," Optical Engineering 55(4), 043107 (28 April 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.55.4.043107

Published: 28 April 2016

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