MEMS for the Next Generation of Giant Astronomical Telescopes

摘要

New advances in Micro Electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS) deformable mirrors with high actuator count, high precision, and low cost have greatly influenced the design thinking for high resolution instruments on the next generation of large aperture telescopes for ground based astronomy. The use of MEMS as general purpose active optical components will open up a variety of capabilities for both sensing and controlling of astronomical light. In this talk we will describe the current thinking for instrument concepts on the Thirty Meter Telescope project and discuss some of our preliminary results from MEMS and AO system concept testing at the UCO/Lick Laboratory for Adaptive Optics.