Micro-electro-mechanical deformable mirrors for aberration control in optical systems

Controlling optical aberrations is one of the enduring problems in optics. Recent advances in adaptive optics for astronomical applications have shown the promise of adaptive optics technology for controlling aberrations. Mic ro-electro-mechanical deformable mirrors (MEM-DMs) offer an alternative to conventional adaptive optics which, due to the inexpensive nature of MEM-DM technology, will enable a wide range of commercial and scientific applicat ions for optical wave front control. In this paper we describe MEM-DMs, pre sent results of modelling the performance of an MEM-DM for optical aberrati on control, and present results of experiments to verify that MEM-DMs can c ontrol optical aberrations.