Development of SiC ultra light mirror for large space telescope and for extremely huge ground-based telescope

Abstract

Ultra lightweight mirrors of silicon carbide (SiC) are used for a large number of space telescopes, and SiC is also candidate as hopeful material for segmented mirrors of the next generation ground based telescopes from 20 to 100 m in diameter. However, an SiC mirror is difficult to shape because the material is very hard and brittle. We are developing an SiC mirror by means of an ultra-precision rotary grinding machine (800 mm in diameter) and the ELID (ELectrolytic In-process Dressing) grinding method. The method is suitable for fabrications of very hard materials, such as crystalline silicon and sapphire, ceramics, glasses, hard metals and so on. In this study, we present results of test fabrication for the SiC mirrors by means of ELID grinding method and evaluations of the profile deformation of the lightweight mirrors by using FEM simulation method.