Novel unimorph deformable mirror for ocular adaptive optics

Abstract

This paper proposes a low-cost unimorph deformable mirror (DM) driven by positive voltages for ocular adaptive optics (AO). The DM consists of an inner actuators array and an outer ring actuator. The inner actuators array is used to correct aberrations, while the outer ring actuator is used to generate an overall defocus bias. The measurement results show that the maximum peak to valley defocus deformation is more than 14 μm. The DM has a satisfactory correction capability for up to the fifth order Zernike mode aberrations. Furthermore, a sample of 200 ocular wavefronts was simulated using a statistical model developed by Thibos. After correction with the developed DM, most of the simulated eyes achieved the diffraction-limited performance. These experimental and simulation results indicate that this DM is satisfactory for ocular applications.