Sub-picometer dynamic measurements of a diffuse surface.

Abstract

Future space observatory missions are forecasting the need for sensing and controlling wavefront error and system alignment stability to picometer scale. Picometer stability performance demands precision knowledge of the mirror and metering structure materials to the same degree. A high-speed electronic speckle pattern interferometer was designed and built to demonstrate measurements of both static and dynamic responses of picometer amplitudes in materials of diffuse surface subjected to very low energy disturbances. This paper describes the details of a test to impart a dynamic disturbance of picometer scale and measure the response of a composite material. The results of the test are also reported and show conclusively that sub-picometer scale effects can be accurately measured in an open test environment outside a vacuum chamber.