PROGRESS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A ZONAL BIMORPH DEFORMABLE MIRRORMike S. Griffith~a, Leslie C. Laycock~a,Nick Archer~a, Richard Myers~b, Peter Doel~c, Rolf Birch~(a*)

摘要

The Zonal Bimorph Deformable Mirror (ZBDM) is a new concept of adaptive mirror. It exploits the benefits normallyassociated with bimorph mirrors, namely simple rugged construction, low capacitance, and cost effectiveness, but in asignificant departure from classical, edge supported bimorphs each element is supported from underneath. This results ina localised (zonal) response and enables the device to be scalable up to large aperture, multi-1000 element devices.Crucially, the combination of continuous support coupled with the use of flexi-circuit interconnect promotes theassembly of a high density 'tweeter' deformable mirror (DM) onto a lower density, high dynamic range 'woofer' DM togenerate an integrated, dual-stage deformable mirror which can deliver both high resolution and high dynamic rangesimultaneously. Such a device has the potential to significantly simplify the design of astronomical adaptive optics (AO)systems. We present the progress made on the development of the ZBDM as part of a collaborative project funded by thenewly formed UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.