Monolithic Deformable Mirror

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将利用表面微加工技术制造低成本的可变形镜（DM）。尽管性能稳步提高，目前的dm仍然贵得令人望而却步。目前，每个执行器的成本仍在1000美元以上。这主要是由于制造方案依赖于大量部件的精密加工或精密装配。Etalon公司提出了一种制造工艺，该工艺已被证明具有降低成本至少一个数量级的潜力。该工艺依靠一种新颖的微加工工艺来单片制造大面积可变形结构，即作为单个组件。利用沉积和生长的介质薄膜，静电驱动的膜反射镜可以在光学成品衬底上以极高的精度和可靠性制造。无需常规加工，便于批量生产。这项工作将调查该过程带来的一些问题，使用专门的有限元分析软件进行详细的计算机模拟，并评估拟议设备的性能。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will utilize surface micromachining techniques to fabricate a low-cost Deformable Mirror (DM). Despite steady improvements in performance, current DMs remain prohibitively expensive. Present devices continue to cost upwards of one thousand dollars per actuator. This is due primarily to manufacturing schemes which rely on precision machining or precision assembly of large numbers of components. Etalon, Inc. proposes a fabrication process which has already proven the potential of reducing costs by at least an order of magnitude. The process relies on a novel microfabrication process to fabricate large area deformable structures monolithically, i.e., as a single component. Using deposited and grown dielectric films, an electrostatically driven membrane mirror can be fabricated with great precision and reliability on an optically finished substrate. No conventional machining is required, and batch production is facilitated. This effort will investigate some of the issues posed by this process, perform an elaborate computer simulation using specialized finite element analysis software, and evaluate the performance of the proposed devices.