Membrane telescopes: useful in ground-based astronomy?

摘要

There is a considerable and growing interest in the use of thin membrane mirrors for optical and infrared systems in space. The possibility of very large, monolithic light-collecting apertures with extremely low areal densities is strong motivation for developing the various technologies that might allow the realization of such systems. During the course of working toward space deployable, large mirror systems, we are also aware of possible ground-based applications of membrane optical elements. This paper briefly discusses some of our recent work and progress with membrane mirror elements, and possible future directions.