Discrete Actuator Deformable Mirror

Abstract

A discrete actuator deformable surface device, which provides as much as 12 pm of surface deformation using ±1 kV, has been developed at Itek. The discrete actuator device, made from bonded layers of piezoelectric discs, has been continuously exercised for a period of several hundred hours. No change in surface figure was observed even using a dilatation level of 6 microns. By employing both optical and electrical techniques, the fundamental mechanical resonance has been measured and found to depend upon the boundary condition in a complicated manner.