Upgrade of Zygo Fizeau interferometer

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The project is concerned with the development of a new class of optical elements that we have pioneered. They are liquid mirrors (ferrofluids) shaped by magnetic fields. These optical elements have the important intrinsic advantage that liquids naturally follow equipotential surfaces to a very high precision. Consequently, we can make inexpensive high-quality optical elements that have very high performances. They allow us to take a wavefront having any shape and, after reflection, generate a wavefront having the shape that we desire. This feat is at the very heart of optics. We have recently demonstrated that our mirrors can generate deformations having amplitudes much larger than those of existing solid deformable mirrors. Because of their performance and low cost these mirrors have considerable technological and economical potentials. The technology is far more versatile than conventional adaptive optics because it can generate deformations having amplitudes ranging from a fraction of a wave to hundreds of waves.