Membrane Deformable Mirror Research Articles

AlN-based piezoelectric MEMS deformable mirror.

An AlN-based piezoelectric micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) continuous membrane deformable mirror (DM) prototype is presented for the first time. Its effective aperture diameter is 5 mm and it is equipped with 25 independently controlled actuators. Owing to the advantages associated with the AlN piezoelectric thin-film technology, attractive characteristics including CMOS compatible fabrication, bidirectional linear and negligible hysteresis actuation, and excellent linear superposition control capability have been successfully demonstrated. Moreover, good optical aberration correction performance is also validated via the surface contour fitting experiment to the Zernike polynomials up to the first 14 orders despite the non-optimized device structure design, representing great application perspective.

Distortion Correction In Particle Image Velocimetry For Measurements Through Fluctuating Interfaces Using A Deep Neural Network And Wavefront Sensing

Imaging-based flow measurements like Particle Image or Particle Tracking Velocimetry re-quire an undistorted optical access to the measurement location. Changes of the refractive index in the light path can cause image deterioration and lead to severe measurement errors. While static aberration as e.g. from curved walls can be corrected by of means static correction optics or dedicated light ray models, this is hardly possible if the aberration change with time at high bandwidth. Many cases of this kind exists in fluid mechanics as e.g. free liquid jets, bubbles, droplets or film flows. These interfaces are related to several open research questions that concern the interaction between the media on both sides of the interface. Hardware-based corrections adapted from astronomy that employs a deformable membrane mirror, a wavefront sensor and a fast control electronics are a viable approach for solving this measurement problem. However, these closed-loop control schemes require extensive and dedicated hardware and are limited by the technical specifications of the adaptive optical mirror in terms of correction bandwidth, stroke and spatial resolution. Here we present an approach based on Multiple-Input deep convolutional neural network that works with a wavefront sensor only and spares the adaptive optical component. Based on a model experiment and a PIV measurement, we demonstrate that this system is able to correct for the errors that are induced by an oscillating water surface by 82 %. The technique can be an alternative to classical closed-loop adaptive optical systems where the performance of the actuators is not sufficient. This can open a perspective towards measurement of interface-related flows that were not accessible before.

Application of the General Extended-Object Wavefront Sensor into Aberration Correction of Lasers

Thermal aberrations are the main impediments for high-energy transverse multimode lasers to achieve high brightness and beam qualities. To address this issue using adaptive optics, traditional wavefront sensing methods have great limitations for aberration correction in high-energy transverse multimode lasers, because these lasers are no longer point sources. The general extended-object wavefront sensor (GEWFS) invented by the authors can work with extended sources in real time, and it is highly suitable to solve this problem. The application of the GEWFS into the compensation of thermal aberrations in a high-energy laser is preliminarily investigated by means of a simulation experiment. In this simulation experiment, a transverse multimode laser diode simulates a high-energy laser, a and phase plate thermal aberrations, which is compensated by a closed-loop adaptive optics system mainly composed of the GEWFS and a membrane deformable mirror. Simulation experimental results show that the peak intensity of the laser beam image is improved about 2.35 times, and the approximate Strehl ratio of the laser system attained 0.90. The results indicate that the GEWFS is simple and accurate enough for wavefront sensing from extended sources, and it will greatly expand the application fields of adaptive optics.

Video-rate remote refocusing through continuous oscillation of a membrane deformable mirror

This paper presents the use of a deformable mirror (DM) configured to rapidly refocus a microscope employing a high numerical aperture (NA) objective lens. An Alpao DM97-15 membrane DM was used to refocus a 40×/0.80 NA water-immersion objective through a defocus range of −50–50 μm at 26.3 sweeps s−1. We achieved imaging with a mean Strehl metric of >0.6 over a field of view in the sample of 200 × 200 μm2 over a defocus range of 77 μm. We describe an optimisation procedure where the mirror is swept continuously in order to avoid known problems of hysteresis associated with the membrane DM employed. This work demonstrates that a DM-based refocusing system could in the future be used in light-sheet fluorescence microscopes to achieve video-rate volumetric imaging.

Simulative and Experimental Characterization of an Adaptive Astigmatic Membrane Mirror.

Adaptive optical (AO) components play an important role in numerous optical applications, from astronomical telescopes to microscope imaging systems. For most of these AO components, the induced wavefront correction, respectively added optical power, is based on a rotationally symmetric or segmented design of the AO component. In this work, we report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of a micro-electronic-mechanical system (MEMS) adaptive membrane mirror in the shape of a parabolic cylinder. In order to interpret the experimental characterization results correctly and provide a tool for future application development, this is accompanied by the setup of an optical simulation model. The characterization results showed a parabolically deformable membrane mirror with an aperture of 8 × 2 mm2 and an adaptive range for the optical power from 0.3 to 6.1 m−1 (dpt). The optical simulation model, using the Gaussian beamlet propagation method, was successfully validated by laser beam profile measurements taken in the optical characterization setup. This MEMS-based adaptive astigmatic membrane mirror, together with the accompanying simulation model, could be a key component for the rapid development of new optical systems, e.g., adaptive laser line generators.

MEMS-in-the-lens 3D beam scanner for in vivo microscopy.

The "MEMS-in-the-lens" active lens for a laser scanning microscope comprises a high numerical aperture front element, a 3D+ MOEMS beam scanner and a collimating back lens. The scanner utilizes a silicon gimbal with SU-8 polymer flexures and deformable membrane mirror. The mirror aperture is 4 mm in diameter, and is capable of 9 μm deflection for focus control, with four annular electrodes to allow tuning of primary and secondary spherical aberration. The gimbal supports tip/tilt actuation up to ±3° for lateral beam scanning. We show confocal imaging using a benchtop mockup of the active lens, illustrating the potential for this approach to support 3D microscopy for optical biopsy applications.

Distributed microscopic actuation analysis of deformable plate membrane mirrors

Abstract To further reduce the areal density of optical mirrors used in space telescopes and other space-borne optical structures, the concept of flexible membrane deformable mirror has been proposed. Because of their high flexibility, poor stiffness and low damping properties, environmental excitations such as orbital maneuver, path changing, and non-uniform heating may induce unexpected vibrations and thus reduce working performance. Therefore, active vibration control is essential for these membrane mirrors. In this paper, two different mirror models, i.e., the plate membrane model and pure membrane model, are studied respectively. In order to investigate the modal vibration characteristics of the mirror, a piezoelectric layer is fully laminated on its non-reflective side to serve as actuators. Dynamic equations of the mirror laminated with piezoelectric actuators are presented first. Then, the actuator induced modal control force is defined. When the actuator area shrinks to infinitesimal, the expressions of microscopic local modal control force and its two components are obtained to predict the spatial microscopic actuation behavior of the mirror. Different membrane pretension forces are also applied to reveal the tension effects on the actuation of the mirror. Analyses indicate that the spatial distribution of modal micro-control forces is exactly the same with the sensing signals distribution of the mirror, which provides crucial guidelines for optimal actuator placement of membrane deformable mirrors.

Wide Field Of View Varifocal Near-Eye Display Using See-Through Deformable Membrane Mirrors

Accommodative depth cues, a wide field of view, and ever-higher resolutions all present major hardware design challenges for near-eye displays. Optimizing a design to overcome one of these challenges typically leads to a trade-off in the others. We tackle this problem by introducing an all-in-one solution - a new wide field of view, gaze-tracked near-eye display for augmented reality applications. The key component of our solution is the use of a single see-through, varifocal deformable membrane mirror for each eye reflecting a display. They are controlled by airtight cavities and change the effective focal power to present a virtual image at a target depth plane which is determined by the gaze tracker. The benefits of using the membranes include wide field of view (100° diagonal) and fast depth switching (from 20 cm to infinity within 300 ms). Our subjective experiment verifies the prototype and demonstrates its potential benefits for near-eye see-through displays.

Membrane-based deformable mirror: intrinsic aberrations and alignment issues

A Deformable Mirror (DM) is an important component of an Adaptive Optics system. It is known that an on-axis spherical/parabolic optical component, placed at an angle to the incident beam introduces defocus as well as astigmatism in the image plane. Although the former can be compensated by changing the focal plane position, the latter cannot be removed by mere optical re-alignment. Since the DM is to be used to compensate a turbulence-induced curvature term in addition to other aberrations, it is necessary to determine the aberrations induced by such (curved DM surface) an optical element when placed at an angle (other than 0 degree) of incidence in the optical path. To this effect, we estimate to a first order, the aberrations introduced by a DM as a function of the incidence angle and deformation of the DM surface. We record images using a simple setup in which the incident beam is reflected by a 37 channel Micro-machined Membrane Deformable Mirror for various angles of incidence. It is observed that astigmatism is a dominant aberration which was determined by measuring the difference between the tangential and sagital focal planes. We justify our results on the basis of theoretical simulations and discuss the feasibility of using such a system for adaptive optics considering a trade-off between wavefront correction and astigmatism due to deformation.

Chaotic Genetic Algorithm for Wavefront Correction in Adaptive Optics

Chaotic genetic algorithm (CGA) is presented as an optimization algorithm for sensorless adaptive optics system to compensate atmospheric wave aberration. Chaos search strategy is incorporated into standard genetic algorithm by the logistic function that possess convergent, bifurcating, and chaotic characteristics during evolution to control the convergence of genetic algorithm. A real number encoding method is adopted in the search process and CGA is used to control a 61-actuator deformable membrane mirror (DM).The algorithm uses light intensity detected on the focal plane as the objective function to optimize, and the simulation results show CGAperforms faster than GA and thus can effectively be used in AO systems.

Stability improvement of a wavefront correction system for robust image acquisition

Stabilization techniques for a wavefront correction system using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and a membrane deformable mirror (DM) for robust image acquisition were investigated in this research. Though stability of a closed-loop wavefront correction system is essential in practical fields, stability is decreased when the system spends voltage resources to correct non-meaningful residual distortions. In this research, adaptive limit control techniques were devised to ensure the long-term stability of a wavefront correction system. An adaptive deformation technique for the outer non-active actuators of a membrane deformable mirror was adopted to improve the correction efficiency of the wavefront correction system. The experimental results corrected for wavefront distortions by using a configured wavefront correction system were described in this research.

Strategies to overcome photobleaching in algorithm-based adaptive optics for nonlinearin-vivoimaging

We have developed a nonlinear adaptive optics microscope utilizing a deformable membrane mirror (DMM) and demonstrated its use in compensating for system- and sample-induced aberrations. The optimum shape of the DMM was determined with a random search algorithm optimizing on either two photon fluorescence or second harmonic signals as merit factors. We present here several strategies to overcome photobleaching issues associated with lengthy optimization routines by adapting the search algorithm and the experimental methodology. Optimizations were performed on extrinsic fluorescent dyes, fluorescent beads loaded into organotypic tissue cultures and the intrinsic second harmonic signal of these cultures. We validate the approach of using these preoptimized mirror shapes to compile a robust look-up table that can be applied for imaging over several days and through a variety of tissues. In this way, the photon exposure to the fluorescent cells under investigation is limited to imaging. Using our look-up table approach, we show signal intensity improvement factors ranging from 1.7 to 4.1 in organotypic tissue cultures and freshly excised mouse tissue. Imaging zebrafish in vivo, we demonstrate signal improvement by a factor of 2. This methodology is easily reproducible and could be applied to many photon starved experiments, for example fluorescent life time imaging, or when photobleaching is a concern.

随机并行梯度下降算法在激光束整形中的应用

In the field of laser applications,in order to meet the need of high laser beam quality,correct the wave-front aberration generated during the transmission of laser beam and improve the laser phase distribution,thereby increase the energy concentration of the beam focusing spot,a set of laser beam shaping experimental system is built based on a 79-channel micromachine membrane deformable mirror(MMDM).By using stochastic parallel gradient descent(SPGD) algorithm,the laser beam shaping experiment is carried out respectively with three performance indexes:radius of the focused spot,encircled energy ratio with geometric center as the center,and encircled energy ratio with centroid as the center.In the three cases,convergences come forth after about 58 times,197 times,133 times of iterations,respectively,but the evolution curve of spot radius oscillates seriously.Encircled energy ratios increase from 0.200 5,0.127 7,0.200 5 before shaping to0.669 9,0.733 9,0.864 0 after shaping,respectively.The results of experiments show that MMDM can be used for laser beam shaping with well results.The shaping speed is fastest with spot radius as the performance index,followed by encircled energy ratio of centroid and encircled energy ratio of geometric center.The shaping effect is best with encircled energy ratio of centroid,followed by the encircled energy ratio of geometric center and spot radius.After synthetical comparison,it is best to choose encircled energy ratio of centroid as the performance index.

Large-scale membrane transfer process: its application to single-crystal-silicon continuous membrane deformable mirror

This paper describes a large-scale membrane transfer process developed for the construction of large-scale membrane devices via the transfer of continuous single-crystal-silicon membranes from one substrate to another. This technique is applied for fabricating a large stroke deformable mirror. A bimorph spring array is used to generate a large air gap between the mirror membrane and the electrode. A 1.9 mm × 1.9 mm × 2 µm single-crystal-silicon membrane is successfully transferred to the electrode substrate by Au–Si eutectic bonding and the subsequent all-dry release process. This process provides an effective approach for transferring a free-standing large continuous single-crystal-silicon to a flexible suspension spring array with a large air gap.

Differential Polarization Nonlinear Optical Microscopy with Adaptive Optics Controlled Multiplexed Beams

Differential polarization nonlinear optical microscopy has the potential to become an indispensable tool for structural investigations of ordered biological assemblies and microcrystalline aggregates. Their microscopic organization can be probed through fast and sensitive measurements of nonlinear optical signal anisotropy, which can be achieved with microscopic spatial resolution by using time-multiplexed pulsed laser beams with perpendicular polarization orientations and photon-counting detection electronics for signal demultiplexing. In addition, deformable membrane mirrors can be used to correct for optical aberrations in the microscope and simultaneously optimize beam overlap using a genetic algorithm. The beam overlap can be achieved with better accuracy than diffraction limited point-spread function, which allows to perform polarization-resolved measurements on the pixel-by-pixel basis. We describe a newly developed differential polarization microscope and present applications of the differential microscopy technique for structural studies of collagen and cellulose. Both, second harmonic generation, and fluorescence-detected nonlinear absorption anisotropy are used in these investigations. It is shown that the orientation and structural properties of the fibers in biological tissue can be deduced and that the orientation of fluorescent molecules (Congo Red), which label the fibers, can be determined. Differential polarization microscopy sidesteps common issues such as photobleaching and sample movement. Due to tens of megahertz alternating polarization of excitation pulses fast data acquisition can be conveniently applied to measure changes in the nonlinear signal anisotropy in dynamically changing in vivo structures.

Adaptive optics in an optical trapping system for enhanced lateral trap stiffness at depth

In optical trapping systems the trap stiffness, or spring constant, deteriorates dramatically with trap depth due to optical aberrations and system misalignment. This can severely hamper studies that employ optical tweezers to make accurate quantitative measurements. Here, a deformable membrane mirror is used, in conjunction with a random search algorithm, to correct for these aberrations by optimizing on a merit factor that is directly proportional to the trap stiffness. Previous studies have sought to address this issue but none have used a merit factor that is directly proportional to the trap stiffness. We demonstrate that the lateral trap stiffness, measured with and without aberration correction at increasing depths, improves throughout the trapping range of a conventional trap and allows us to extend the maximum depth at which we can trap from 136 to 166 μm. At a depth of 131 μm, trap stiffness improved by factors of 4.37 and 3.31 for the x- and y-axes respectively. The aberration correction resulted in deformable membrane mirror shapes where a single shape could be applied throughout a wide range of trap depths, showing significant improvement, and had the added benefit of making the lateral trapping forces more uniform in x and y.

Feedforward Control of Deformable Membrane Mirrors for Adaptive Optics

In this paper, performance enhancements for deformable membrane mirrors based on model-based feedforward control are presented. The investigated deformable mirror consists of a flexible membrane and voice coil actuators. Feedback control of the distributed actuators cannot be implemented in these mirrors due to a lack of high speed internal position measurements of the membrane's deformation. However, by using feedforward control, the dominant dynamics of the membrane can still be controlled allowing for faster settling times and reduced membrane vibrations. Experimental results are presented for an ALPAO deformable mirror with 88 distributed actuators on a circular membrane with a pupil of two centimeters in diameter.

Iterative learning control of a membrane deformable mirror for optimal wavefront correction

We present an iterative learning control (ILC) algorithm for controlling the shape of a membrane deformable mirror (DM). We furthermore give a physical interpretation of the design parameters of the ILC algorithm. On the basis of this insight, we derive a simple tuning procedure for the ILC algorithm that, in practice, guarantees stable and fast convergence of the membrane to the desired shape. In order to demonstrate the performance of the algorithm, we have built an experimental setup that consists of a commercial membrane DM, a wavefront sensor, and a real-time controller. The experimental results show that, by using the ILC algorithm, we are able to achieve a relatively small error between the real and desired shape of the DM while at the same time we are able to control the saturation of the actuators. Moreover, we show that the ILC algorithm outperforms other control algorithms available in the literature.

SU-8 2002 Surface Micromachined Deformable Membrane Mirrors

This paper describes two surface micromachining processes, i.e., one using a wet-etch release and the other using a dry-etch release, to create deformable membrane mirrors made from a thin film of low-stress SU-8 2002. The mirrors are designed for electronic focus and aberration control in imaging systems, and exhibit a large range of motion and high optical quality. The processes result in free-standing membrane mirrors with in-plane film stress as low as 12.5 MPa while attaining well-defined lithographic features as small as 3 μm in a 2.5-μm-thick film. We achieved a maximum deflection of 14.8 μm for a 3-mm × 4.24-mm elliptical boundary mirror, limited by electrostatic pull-in. Using a 3-mm × 4.24-mm mirror, which is designed for operation with a circular beam at 45° incidence angle, we demonstrate focus control while compensating spherical aberration in an optical microscope over a depth of 137 μm using a 50× 0.4-NA objective lens.

High Resolution Retinal Imaging Based on Ocular Aberration Measurement and Compensation

Ocular retinal imaging is a major diagnostic modality for retinal disease, and can play a critical role for diagnosing systemic diseases such as diabetes and eye-specific diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, the leading causes of blindness. In order to get high-resolution retinal imaging and develop the low-cost and compact retinal imaging system, we employ micro adaptive optics, which is consisted of wavefront sensor, wavefront corrector and control system. In this paper, the theory, design and testing of the ocular retinal microscopy is detailed, with an emphasis on the eye wavefront aberration describing, aberration detecting method with Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensing and close-loop aberration compensating by micromachined membrane deformable mirrors(MMDM).The ocular retinal microscopy experimental setup is built, the retinal cell imaging had been snapped. It is showed in this work that the ocular retinal microscopy based on adaptive optics system can enable diffraction-limited imaging of micro-scale features of the retina, through real-time compensation of aberrations introduced by the eye.