Preliminary Investigation of an Electrostatically Actuated Liquid-Based Deformable Mirror

Abstract

Adaptive optics is essential to offset the effect of wavefront distortions introduced by the aberrating media between the object and the imaging optics. Efficient adaptive optics systems can improve the resolution and image quality by suitably correcting these wavefront distortions. One of the crucial components of an adaptive optics system is the deformable mirror. Several types of deformable mirrors based on liquids are currently under investigation. Several groups have demonstrated magnetic actuation of a liquid deformable mirror. Our research is focused on the design and construction of a. low cost electrostatically actuated liquid-based deformable mirror, which would exhibit higher spatio-temporal bandwidth compared to the current mechanically driven deformable mirrors. Preliminary simulation shows that stroke requirements for astronomical application are easily met while complying with low power demands.