Ultra-Lightweight Mirrors: Recent Developments of C/SiC

摘要

Ceramic mirrors are going to become more and more attractive for realizing lightweight optomechanical systems. The C/SiC ceramic described in this article, a joint development of DSS and JABG offers design freedom through a novel straight forward manufacturing process, combined with excellent optomechanical properties. This process not only enables to build ultra lightweight mirrors of very high complexity, but also very large 3d-structures. Mirrors up to 80 cm and structures up to 2.5m have been realized. The paper will summarize the recent progress achieved in producing mirror blanks up to 1m diameter and beyond. Recent results in new technologies for achieving high performance optical surfaces will be reported. An outlook for future envisaged applications of C/SiC technology, e.g. 2.5 m mirror segments for the next generation of large earth and space based telescopes, is given.