SBIR Phase I: Deformable Mirror Devices for Ocular Adaptive Optics

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种创新的微镜技术，以解决当前眼自适应光学（AO）面临的技术问题，包括无法纠正高阶像差、像素之间的大串扰、驱动电子器件体积大、重量大、以及成本过高，无法将镜子集成到商业眼科仪器（如眼底相机）中。激光共聚焦扫描检眼镜及光学相干断层扫描系统。这个第一阶段的项目将侧重于建立一个实验室原型，以展示具有与瞳孔大小匹配的孔径大小的设备的概念验证波前校正，镜面数据的性能测试，操作速度，功耗，其材料系统的可靠性和稳定性。并进一步探索未来将镜像架构单片集成到智能低功耗专用集成电路（ASIC）基板上的关键制造挑战。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是一种颠覆性的微镜技术，通过将成像分辨率提高到一个数量级，将镜子模块（包括相关接口板）的尺寸和重量减小到两个数量级，从而使自适应光学技术应用于商业眼科仪器，从而变得像数码相机一样紧凑，并以可接受的价格向仪器制造商提供眼科临床AO模块。一种能够提高视网膜成像分辨率并向视网膜提供精确激光点的自适应光学系统可以在临床上解决多种眼病，包括视网膜脱离、黄斑变性和糖尿病性视网膜病变。AO反射镜的其他市场应用包括生物医学显微镜、高分辨率成像和大气湍流通信、激光束转向和光路对准。所提出的镜子技术可以进一步适用于生产各种各样的扫描镜子，用于微型投影仪显示器，血管内成像和光谱仪市场部门。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop an innovative micro mirror technology to address the technical problems facing the current ocular adaptive optics (AO) that include incapability to correct higher order aberrations, large cross-talk among pixels, being bulky and heavy in implementing driver electronics, and the prohibitively high cost that prevents mirror integration into commercial ophthalmic instruments such as fundus camera, confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope, and optical coherence tomography systems. This Phase I project will focus upon building a laboratory prototype to demonstrate the proof-of-concept wavefront correction of the device having an aperture size matching that of an eye pupil, performance test of the mirror for surface figures, operational speed, power consumption, reliability and stability of its material system, and to further explore critical manufacturing challenges for future monolithically integration of the mirror architecture onto a smart and low-power application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) substrate.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is a disruptive micro mirror technology enabling implementation of adaptive optics into commercial ophthalmic instruments by improving imaging resolution to up to one order of magnitude, reducing size and weight of the mirror module (associating interface board included) up to two orders of magnitude, thus becoming as compact as a digital camera, and by offering the eye clinical AO module to instruments manufacturers at acceptable prices. An adaptive optics system capable of enhancing retinal imaging resolution and delivering an accurate laser spot to the retina could be clinically capable of addressing several ocular diseases including retinal detachment, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. Other market applications of the AO mirrors include biomedical microscope, high-resolution imaging and communication through atmospheric turbulence, laser beam steering, and optical path alignment. The proposed mirror technology could be further adapted to produce a wide variety of scanning mirrors for miniature projector displays, intravascular imaging, and spectrometer market sectors.