Demonstration of 17 cm robust carbon fiber deformable mirror for adaptive optics

S. Mark Ammons; Michael Hart; Blake Coughenour; Robert Romeo; Robert Martin; Matt Rademacher

doi:10.1117/12.894186

16 September 2011 Demonstration of 17 cm robust carbon fiber deformable mirror for adaptive optics

S. Mark Ammons, Michael Hart, Blake Coughenour, Robert Romeo, Robert Martin, Matt Rademacher

Proceedings Volume 8149, Astronomical Adaptive Optics Systems and Applications IV; 81490C (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.894186
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite is an attractive material for fabrication of optics due to its high stiffness-to-weight ratio, robustness, zero coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and the ability to replicate multiple optics from the same mandrel. We use 8 and 17 cm prototype CFRP thin-shell deformable mirrors to show that residual CTE variation may be addressed with mounted actuators for a variety of mirror sizes. We present measurements of surface quality at a range of temperatures characteristic of mountaintop observatories. For the 8 cm piece, the figure error of the Al-coated reflective surface under best actuator correction is ~43 nm RMS. The 8 cm mirror has a low surface error internal to the outer ring of actuators (17 nm RMS at 20°C and 33 nm RMS at -5°C). Surface roughness is low (< 3 nm P-V) at a variety of temperatures. We present new figure quality measurements of the larger 17 cm mirror, showing that the intra-actuator figure error internal to the outer ring of actuators (38 nm RMS surface with one-third the actuator density of the 8 cm mirror) does not scale sharply with mirror diameter.

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S. Mark Ammons, Michael Hart, Blake Coughenour, Robert Romeo, Robert Martin, and Matt Rademacher "Demonstration of 17 cm robust carbon fiber deformable mirror for adaptive optics", Proc. SPIE 8149, Astronomical Adaptive Optics Systems and Applications IV, 81490C (16 September 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.894186

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KEYWORDS

Mirrors

Actuators

Adaptive optics

Deformable mirrors

Thermography

Carbon

Temperature metrology

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