High-power visible laser effect on a Boston Micromachines' MEMS deformable mirror

Andrew Norton; Donald Gavel; Daren Dillon; Steven Cornelissen

doi:10.1117/12.856635

29 July 2010 High-power visible laser effect on a Boston Micromachines' MEMS deformable mirror

Andrew Norton, Donald Gavel, Daren Dillon, Steven Cornelissen

Proceedings Volume 7736, Adaptive Optics Systems II; 77365O (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856635
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Continuous-facesheet and segmented Boston Micromachines Corporations' (BMC) Micro-Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Deformable Mirrors (DM) have been tested for their response to high-power visible-wavelength laser light. The deformable mirrors, coated with either protected silver or bare aluminum, were subjected to a maximum of 2 Watt laser-light at a wavelength of 532 nanometers. The laser light was incident on a ~ 3.5×3.5 cm area for time periods from minutes to 7 continuous hours. Spot heating from the laser-light is measured to induce a local bulge in the surface of each DM. For the aluminum-coated continuous facesheet DM, the induced spot heating changes the surface figure by 16 nm rms. The silver-coated continuous-facesheet and segmented (spatial light modulator) DMs experience a 6 and 8 nm surface rms change in surface quality with the laser at 2 Watts. For spatial frequencies less than the actuator spacing (300 mm), the laser induced surface bulge is shown to be removable, as the DMs continued to be fully functional during and after their exposure. Over the full 10 mm aperture one could expect the same results with a 15 Watt laser guide star (LGS). These results are very promising for use of the MEMS DM to pre-correct the outgoing laser light in the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics' (LAO) laser uplink application.

Citation Download Citation

Andrew Norton, Donald Gavel, Daren Dillon, and Steven Cornelissen "High-power visible laser effect on a Boston Micromachines' MEMS deformable mirror", Proc. SPIE 7736, Adaptive Optics Systems II, 77365O (29 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856635

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