SYSTEMATIC DESIGN OF A DEFORMABLE MIRROR WITH LOW-ORDER WAVE-FRONT COMPENSATION CAPABILITY

Deformable mirrors have been considered deficient for low-order-mode c orrections such as tilt jitter. New materials and advanced computation al procedures have made it possible to design a mirror to satisfy both stroke and bandwidth requirements for different aberration orders, Op timization techniques are applied to the systematic design of a multil ayered deformable mirror composed of a bimorph polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric material. The deflection-bandwidth product is ch osen as the figure of merit and maximized through the optimization pro cess. Equations for the generated moment, stroke, frequency, and stres s in a multilayered plate are identified. The limits on system perform ance are considered and treated as the design constraints, The design variables are chosen to be the geometrical dimensions al each layer an d the applied electric field to the piezoelectric material. Discussion is presented on design, mathematical modeling, computer implementatio n, and application to a test model. The specifications are provided fo r a mirror with low-order wavefront correction capability. The success ful procedure and results establish a basis for a general approach for the design of deformable mirrors of any shape. (C) 1996 Society of Ph oto Optical Instrumentation Engineers.