Advances in MEMS deformable mirror technology for laser beam shaping

Abstract

In recent years, demanding adaptive optics applications have driven advancements in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirrors. The latest developments in adaptive optics for extremely large telescopes and other astronomical applications calling for thousands of control points have pushed high actuator mirror arrays. The need to compensate for large amplitude, high order wavefront aberrations in retinal imaging have pushed for high stroke, high spatial resolution deformable mirrors. Aerospace and military defense applications with long operational life times have created demands for rugged, highly reliable micromachined devices. Finally, the impending commercialization of deformable mirrors for bioimaging applications has created a requirement for a low-cost adaptive optics solution. The variety of applications with their respective requirements has resulted in versatile MEMS devices for advanced optical control and thus well-suited for many laser beam shaping applications. This paper will describe the design, manufacturing, and testing results of the latest generation of optical quality micromachined deformable mirrors. Recent testing of a 4096 actuator deformable mirror and a newly released a 140 actuator, six micron stroke mirror will be demonstrated. A high-speed electronics driver for a 1024 actuator deformable mirror designed for laser beam shaping in optical communication will also be demonstrated. This paper will show how the applications of micromachined deformable mirrors can be extended to laser beam shaping for industrial machining, laser communication, and femto-second pulse applications.