Development of key adaptive mirror technologies for the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)

我们建议建立一个大型变形镜的“概念验证”部分。我们将证明，结合现有的技术，与一些发展，可以解决目前面临的大型自适应镜技术的关键问题。我们将表明，我们的镜子部分将是可扩展的，并代表所需的技术，以建立一个大型的自适应反射镜的欧洲ELT。我们建议优化的材料参数的顺应性形式的碳化硅用作镜面的结构支撑。我们将开发一种新的技术，通过选择性地建立一个二氧化硅层的方式，以尽量减少所需的时间，以达到光学处方的适应性镜壳的顺应性碳化硅的表面制备。我们将表明，压电陶瓷（PZT）致动器可以修改，以解决滞后和低功耗和固有刚度的组合，使该设备成为大型可变形镜的理想候选人。

We propose to build a 'proof of concept' portion of a large deformable mirror. We will demonstrate that a combination of already available technologies, with some development, can address key problems currently facing large adaptive mirror technologies. We will show that our mirror portion will be scalable to, and representative of the technology required to build a large adaptive mirror for the European ELT. We propose optimising the material parameters of a compliant form of silicon carbide for use as a structural support for a mirror surface. We will develop a novel technique of preparing the surface of the compliant silicon carbide as an adaptive mirror shell by selectively building up a silicon dioxide layer in such a way as to minimise the time required to reach the optical prescription. We will show that a piezo ceramic (PZT) actuator can be modified to address hysteresis and that the combination of low power consumption and inherent stiffness make the device an ideal candidate for large deformable mirrors.