MEMS deformable mirrors for astronomical adaptive optics

Abstract

We report on the development of high actuator count, micro-electromechanical (MEMS) deformable mirrors designed for high order wavefront correction in ground and space-based astronomical adaptive optics instruments. The design of these polysilicon, surface-micromachined MEMS deformable mirrors builds on technology that has been used extensively to correct for ocular aberrations in retinal imaging systems and for compensation of atmospheric turbulence in free-space laser communication. These light-weight, low power deformable mirrors have an active aperture of up to 25.2mm consisting of a thin silicon membrane mirror supported by an array of 140 to 4092 electrostatic actuators which exhibit no hysteresis and have sub-nanometer repeatability making them well suited for open-loop control applications such as Multi-Object Adaptive Optics (MOAO). The continuous membrane deformable mirrors, coated with a highly reflective metal film, are capable of up to 6μm of stroke, have a surface finish of <10nm RMS with a fill factor of 99.8%. Presented in this paper are device characteristics and performance test results, as well as reliability test data and device lifetime predictions that show that trillions of actuator cycles can be achieved without failures.