Development of a technology for fabricating low-cost parallel optical interconnects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Steenberge, Geert; Hendrickx, Nina; Geerinck, Peter; Bosman, Erwin; Van Put, Steven; Van Daele, Peter

2006-04-01

We present a fabrication technology for integrating polymer waveguides and 45° micromirror couplers into standard electrical printed circuit boards (PCBs). The most critical point that is being addressed is the low-cost manufacturing and the compatibility with current PCB production. The latter refers to the processes as well as material compatibility. In the fist part the waveguide fabrication technology is discussed, both photo lithography and laser ablation are proposed. It is shown that a frequency tripled Nd-YAG laser (355 nm) offers a lot of potential for defining single mode interconnections. Emphasis is on multimode waveguides, defined by KrF excimer laser (248 nm) ablation using acrylate polymers. The first conclusion out of loss spectrum measurements is a 'yellowing effect' of laser ablated waveguides, leading to an increased loss at shorter wavelengths. The second important conclusion is a potential low loss at a wavelength of 850 nm, 980 nm and 1310 nm. This is verified at 850 nm by cut-back measurements on 10-cm-long waveguides showing an average propagation loss of 0.13 dB/cm. Photo lithographically defined waveguides using inorganic-organic hybrid polymers show an attenuation loss of 0.15 dB/cm at 850 nm. The generation of debris and the presence of microstructures are two main concerns for KrF excimer laser ablation of hybrid polymers. In the second part a process for embedding metal coated 45° micromirrors in optical waveguiding layers is described. Mirrors are selectively metallized using a lift-off process. Filling up the angled via without the presence of air bubbles and providing a flat surface above the mirror is only possible by enhancing the cladding deposition process with ultrasound agitation. Initial loss measurements indicate an excess mirror loss of 1.5 dB.

Silicon Carbide Technologies for Lightweighted Aerospace Mirrors

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

Silicon Carbide Technologies for Lightweighted Aerospace Mirrors Lawrence E. Matson (1) Ming Y. Chen (1) Brett deBlonk (2) Iwona A...glass and beryllium to produce lightweighted aerospace mirror systems has reached its limits due to the long lead times, high processing costs...for making mirror structural substrates, figuring and finishing technologies being investigated to reduce cost time and cost, and non-destructive

Advanced Mirror Technology Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2017-01-01

The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project matures critical technologies required to enable ultra-stable 4-m-or-larger monolithic or segmented ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) space telescope primary-mirror assemblies for general astrophysics and ultra-high-contrast observations of exoplanets.

Managing Risk on a Technology Development Project/Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byberg, Alicia; Russell, J. Kevin; Stahl, Phil (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The risk management study applied to the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD), a precursor mirror technology development for the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) is documented. The AMSD will be developed as a segment of a lightweight primary mirror system that can be produced at a low cost and with a short manufacturing schedule. The technology gained from the program will support the risk mitigation strategy for the NGST, as well as other government agency space mirror programs.

JWST Primary Mirror Technology Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2010-01-01

Mirror Technology was identified as a (if not the) critical capability necessary to achieve the Level 1 science goals. A never before demonstrated space telescope capability was required: 6 to 8 meter class pri mary mirror, diffraction limited at 2 micrometers and operates at temperatures below 50K. Launch vehicle constraints placed significant architectural constraints: deployed/segmented primary mirror (4.5 meter fairing diameter) 20 kg/m2 areal density (PM 1000 kg mass) Such mirror technology had never been demonstrated - and did not exist

Mounting for Fabrication, Metrology, and Assembly of Full Shell Grazing Incidence Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roche, Jacqueline M.; Gubarev, Mikhail V.; O'Dell, Stephen L.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Ramsey, Brian D.; Elsner, Ronald F.

2014-01-01

Future x-ray telescopes will likely require lightweight mirrors to attain the large collecting areas needed to accomplish the science objectives. Understanding and demonstrating processes now is critical to achieving sub-arcsecond performance in the future. Consequently, designs not only of the mirrors but of fixtures for supporting them during fabrication, metrology, handling, assembly, and testing must be adequately modeled and verified. To this end, MSFC is using finite-element modeling to study the effects of mounting on full-shell grazing-incidence mirrors, during all processes leading to flight mirror assemblies. Here we report initial results of this study.

The effects of thermal gradients on the Mars Observer Camera primary mirror

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Applewhite, Roger W.; Telkamp, Arthur R.

1992-01-01

The paper discusses the effect of thermal gradients on the optical performance of the primary mirror of Mars Observer Camera (MOC), which will be launched on the Mars Observer spacecraft in September 1992. It was found that mild temperature gradients can have a large effect on the mirror surface figure, even for relatively low coefficient-of-thermal-expansion materials. However, in the case of the MOC primary mirror, it was found that the radius of curvature (ROC) of the reflective surface of the mirror changed in a nearly linear fashion with the radial temperature gradient, with little additional aberration. A solid-state ROC controller using the thermal gradient effect was implemented and verified.

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Project: Overview and Year 4 Accomplishments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2016-01-01

The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in Phase 2 of a multiyear effort initiated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, to mature toward the next Technology Readiness Level (TRL) critical technologies required to enable 4-m-or-larger monolithic or segmented ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) space telescope primary-mirror assemblies for general astrophysics and ultra-high-contrast observations of exoplanets. Key hardware accomplishments of 2015/16 are the successful low-temperature fusion of a 1.5-meter diameter ULE mirror that is a 1/3rd scale model of a 4-meter mirror and the initiation of polishing of a 1.2-meter Extreme-Lightweight Zerodur mirror. Critical to AMTD's success is an integrated team of scientists, systems engineers, and technologists; and a science-driven systems engineering approach.

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project: overview and year four accomplishments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2016-07-01

The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in Phase 2 of a multiyear effort initiated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, to mature toward the next Technology Readiness Level (TRL) critical technologies required to enable 4-m-or-larger monolithic or segmented ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) space telescope primary-mirror assemblies for general astrophysics and ultra-high-contrast observations of exoplanets. Key hardware accomplishments of 2015/16 are the successful low-temperature fusion of a 1.5-meter diameter ULE mirror that is a 1/3rd scale model of a 4-meter mirror and the initiation of polishing of a 1.2-meter Extreme-Lightweight Zerodur mirror. Critical to AMTD's success is an integrated team of scientists, systems engineers, and technologists; and a science-driven systems engineering approach.

Testing large flats with computer generated holograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pariani, Giorgio; Tresoldi, Daniela; Spanò, Paolo; Bianco, Andrea

2012-09-01

We describe the optical test of a large flat based on a spherical mirror and a dedicated CGH. The spherical mirror, which can be accurately manufactured and tested in absolute way, allows to obtain a quasi collimated light beam, and the hologram performs the residual wavefront correction. Alignment tools for the spherical mirror and the hologram itself are encoded in the CGH. Sensitivity to fabrication errors and alignment has been evaluated. Tests to verify the effectiveness of our approach are now under execution.

Active Mirror Predictive and Requirements Verification Software (AMP-ReVS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Basinger, Scott A.

2012-01-01

This software is designed to predict large active mirror performance at various stages in the fabrication lifecycle of the mirror. It was developed for 1-meter class powered mirrors for astronomical purposes, but is extensible to other geometries. The package accepts finite element model (FEM) inputs and laboratory measured data for large optical-quality mirrors with active figure control. It computes phenomenological contributions to the surface figure error using several built-in optimization techniques. These phenomena include stresses induced in the mirror by the manufacturing process and the support structure, the test procedure, high spatial frequency errors introduced by the polishing process, and other process-dependent deleterious effects due to light-weighting of the mirror. Then, depending on the maturity of the mirror, it either predicts the best surface figure error that the mirror will attain, or it verifies that the requirements for the error sources have been met once the best surface figure error has been measured. The unique feature of this software is that it ties together physical phenomenology with wavefront sensing and control techniques and various optimization methods including convex optimization, Kalman filtering, and quadratic programming to both generate predictive models and to do requirements verification. This software combines three distinct disciplines: wavefront control, predictive models based on FEM, and requirements verification using measured data in a robust, reusable code that is applicable to any large optics for ground and space telescopes. The software also includes state-of-the-art wavefront control algorithms that allow closed-loop performance to be computed. It allows for quantitative trade studies to be performed for optical systems engineering, including computing the best surface figure error under various testing and operating conditions. After the mirror manufacturing process and testing have been completed, the software package can be used to verify that the underlying requirements have been met.

Advanced mirror technology development (AMTD): year five status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2017-09-01

The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in Phase 2 of a multiyear effort initiated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, to mature the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of critical technologies required to enable 4-m-orlarger monolithic or segmented ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) space telescope primary-mirror assemblies for general astrophysics, ultra-high-contrast observations of exoplanets, and National Interest missions. Key accomplishments of 2016/17 include the completion of the Harris Corp 150 Hz 1.5-meter Ultra-Low Expansion (ULE) mirror substrate using stacked core method to demonstrate lateral stability of the stacked core technology, as well as the characterization and validation by test of the mechanical and thermal performance of the 1.2-meter Zerodur mirror using the STOP model prediction and verification of CTE homogeneity.

Large optics technology; Proceedings of the Meeting, San Diego, CA, August 19-21, 1985. Volume 571

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanger, G.M.

1986-01-01

The present conference on telescope primary mirror design and manufacturing technologies considers topics in mirror fabrication and testing, novel technology currently under development, recently instituted large optics development programs, and large mirror materials. Among the topics discussed are aspheric figure generation using feedback from an IR phase-shifting interferometer, thermal stability tests of CFRP sandwich panels for far-IR astronomy, Zerodur lightweight (large mirror) blanks, and the precision machining of grazing-incidence X-ray mirror substrates. Also treated are the rapid fabrication of large aspheric optics, steps toward 8-m honeycomb mirrors, a novel telescope design employing the refraction of prism rows, telescope technology formore » the Far-UV Spectroscopic Explorer, hot isostatic-pressed Be for large optics, and a concept for a moderate cost large deployable reflector.« less

Analysis and manipulation of the induced changes in the state of polarization by mirror scanners.

PubMed

Petrova-Mayor, Anna; Knudsen, Sarah

2017-05-20

The induced polarization effects of metal-coated mirrors were studied in the configurations of one- and two-mirror lidar scanners as a function of azimuth and elevation angles. The theoretical results were verified experimentally for three types of mirrors (custom enhanced gold, off-the-shelf protected gold, and protected aluminum). A method was devised and tested to maintain a desired polarization state (linear or circular) of the transmit beam for all pointing directions by means of rotating wave plates in the transmit and detection paths. Alternatively, the mirror coating can be optimized to preserve the linear polarization state of the transmitted beam. The compensation methods will enable ground-based scanning lidars to produce absolutely calibrated depolarization measurements.

Overview and Accomplishments of Advanced Mirror Technology Development Phase 2 (AMTD-2) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2015-01-01

The Advance Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in Phase 2 of a multiyear effort, initiated in FY12, to mature by at least a half TRL step critical technologies required to enable 4 meter or larger UVOIR space telescope primary mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. AMTD Phase 1 completed all of its goals and accomplished all of its milestones. AMTD Phase 2 started in 2014. Key accomplishments include deriving primary mirror engineering specifications from science requirements; developing integrated modeling tools and using those tools to perform parametric design trades; and demonstrating new mirror technologies via sub-scale fabrication and test. AMTD-1 demonstrated the stacked core technique by making a 43-cm diameter 400 mm thick 'biscuit-cut' of a 4-m class mirror. AMTD-2 is demonstrating lateral scalability of the stacked core method by making a 1.5 meter 1/3rd scale model of a 4-m class mirror.

Electromagnetic DM technology meets future AO demands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamelinck, Roger; Rosielle, Nick; Steinbuch, Maarten; Doelman, Niek

New deformable mirror technology is developed by the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Delft University of Technology and TNO Science and Industry. Several prototype adaptive deformable mirrors are realized mirrors, up to 427 actuators and ∅150mm diameter, with characteristics suitable for future AO systems. The prototypes consist of a 100µm thick, continuous facesheet on which low voltage, electromagnetic, push-pull actuators impose out-of-plane displacements. The variable reluctance actuators with ±10µm stroke and nanometer resolution are located in a standard actuator module. Each module with 61 actuators connects to a single PCB with dedicated, 16 bit, PWM based, drivers. A LVDS multi-drop cable connects up to 32 actuator modules. With the actuator module, accompanying PCB and multi-drop system the deformable mirror technology is made modular in its mechanics and electronics. An Ethernet-LVDS bridge enables any commercial PC to control the mirror using the UDP standard. Latest results of the deformable mirror technology development are presented.

Status of Mirror Technology for the Next Generation Space Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, D. N.

2000-10-01

The NGST primary mirror is anticipated to be a segmented deployable optic with segment size being in the range of 1-3m depending on the details of the architecture. Over the past 4 years the NGST program has initiated and implemented an aggressive lightweight cryogenic mirror technology program. The program was designed to challenge and excite the optical community in reaching a new standard in production of lightweight optics. The goal was to develop optics at < 15 kg/m2, operational at ~ 40K and meeting the overall NGST observatory requirement for diffraction limited performance at 2 microns. In order to meet the NGST needs, technology efforts were initiated to investigate and develop mirrors in a variety of materials, which held promise for the program. The basic technology approaches have initially targeted the production of large mirrors in the 1.2-2.0m diameter range (or side-to-side distance in the case of hexagonal optics). Although this size may not be the final size of an NGST primary mirror segment, it was felt that a 1.2-2.0m optic would be of sufficient size to understand the mirror material and fabrication processes which drive the cost and schedule of mirror production. The ultimate goals of the technology program are both to demonstrate mirrors meeting the NGST performance requirements, and to establish cost and schedule credibility for producing and implementing the mirrors for the NGST flight system. Establishing cost and schedule credibility is essential to NGST which is a cost capped mission, with past program experience demonstrating that the optics will be a large portion of the total cost of the program. The first two years of the program were dedicated to understanding the various applicable materials, funding those materials to various levels of maturity and implementing the first large mirror procurement, the NGST Mirror System Demonstrator (NMSD), in order to establish a benchmark for the state-of-the-art in lightweight optics and to establish credibility that the goals of NGST could be achieved. The past two years of the program has seen major steps in the development of several mirror materials, which not only might have NGST applicability but could also support other programs for other customers. Additionally, a second large mirror procurement, the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD), has been implemented providing a focal point to complete the mirror technology development and lead ultimately to the production of mirrors that will fly on NEXUS (NGST flight experimentand) and NGST. This talk will focus on a status of the mirror technology developed over the past 4 years on the NGST program.

The pressure control technology of the active stressed lap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ying; Wang, Daxing

2010-10-01

The active stressed lap polishing technology is a kind of new polishing technology that can actively deform the lap surface to become an off-axis asphere according to different lap position on mirror surface and different angle of lap. The pressure of the lap on the mirror is an important factor affecting the grinding efficiency of the optics mirror. The active stressed lap technology using dynamic pressure control solution in the process of polishing astronomical Aspheric Mirror with faster asphericity will provide the advantage like high polishing speed and natural smooth, etc. This article puts emphases on the pressure control technology of the active stressed lap technology. It requires that the active stressed lap keeps symmetrical vertical compression on the mirrors in the process of grinding mirrors. With a background of an active stressed lap 450mm in diameter, this article gives an outline of the pressure control organization, analyzes the principle of pressure control and proposes the limitations of the present pressure control organization and the relevant solutions, designs a digital pressure controller with C32-bit RISC embedded and gives the relevant experimental test result finally.

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD): Year Five Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H Philip

2017-01-01

The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in Phase 2 of a multiyear effort initiated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, to mature the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of critical technologies required to enable 4-m-or-larger monolithic or segmented ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) space telescope primary-mirror assemblies for general astrophysics, ultra-high-contrast observations of exoplanets, and National Interest missions. Key accomplishments of 2016/17 include the completion of the Harris Corp approximately 150 Hz 1.5-meter Ultra-Low Expansion (ULE Registered trademark) mirror substrate using stacked core method to demonstrate lateral stability of the stacked core technology, as well as the characterization and validation by test of the mechanical and thermal performance of the 1.2-meter Zerodur (Registered trademark) mirror using the STOP model prediction and verification of CTE homogeneity.

Sub-aperture stitching test of a cylindrical mirror with large aperture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Shuai; Chen, Shanyong; Shi, Feng; Lu, Jinfeng

2016-09-01

Cylindrical mirrors are key optics of high-end equipment of national defense and scientific research such as high energy laser weapons, synchrotron radiation system, etc. However, its surface error test technology develops slowly. As a result, its optical processing quality can not meet the requirements, and the developing of the associated equipment is hindered. Computer Generated-Hologram (CGH) is commonly utilized as null for testing cylindrical optics. However, since the fabrication process of CGH with large aperture is not sophisticated yet, the null test of cylindrical optics with large aperture is limited by the aperture of the CGH. Hence CGH null test combined with sub-aperture stitching method is proposed to break the limit of the aperture of CGH for testing cylindrical optics, and the design of CGH for testing cylindrical surfaces is analyzed. Besides, the misalignment aberration of cylindrical surfaces is different from that of the rotational symmetric surfaces since the special shape of cylindrical surfaces, and the existing stitching algorithm of rotational symmetric surfaces can not meet the requirements of stitching cylindrical surfaces. We therefore analyze the misalignment aberrations of cylindrical surfaces, and study the stitching algorithm for measuring cylindrical optics with large aperture. Finally we test a cylindrical mirror with large aperture to verify the validity of the proposed method.

Advanced Mirror & Modelling Technology Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Effinger, Michael; Stahl, H. Philip; Abplanalp, Laura; Maffett, Steven; Egerman, Robert; Eng, Ron; Arnold, William; Mosier, Gary; Blaurock, Carl

2014-01-01

The 2020 Decadal technology survey is starting in 2018. Technology on the shelf at that time will help guide selection to future low risk and low cost missions. The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) team has identified development priorities based on science goals and engineering requirements for Ultraviolet Optical near-Infrared (UVOIR) missions in order to contribute to the selection process. One key development identified was lightweight mirror fabrication and testing. A monolithic, stacked, deep core mirror was fused and replicated twice to achieve the desired radius of curvature. It was subsequently successfully polished and tested. A recently awarded second phase to the AMTD project will develop larger mirrors to demonstrate the lateral scaling of the deep core mirror technology. Another key development was rapid modeling for the mirror. One model focused on generating optical and structural model results in minutes instead of months. Many variables could be accounted for regarding the core, face plate and back structure details. A portion of a spacecraft model was also developed. The spacecraft model incorporated direct integration to transform optical path difference to Point Spread Function (PSF) and between PSF to modulation transfer function. The second phase to the project will take the results of the rapid mirror modeler and integrate them into the rapid spacecraft modeler.

Deformable mirrors development program at ESO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stroebele, Stefan; Vernet, Elise; Brinkmann, Martin; Jakob, Gerd; Lilley, Paul; Casali, Mark; Madec, Pierre-Yves; Kasper, Markus

2016-07-01

Over the last decade, adaptive optics has become essential in different fields of research including medicine and industrial applications. With this new need, the market of deformable mirrors has expanded a lot allowing new technologies and actuation principles to be developed. Several E-ELT instruments have identified the need for post focal deformable mirrors but with the increasing size of the telescopes the requirements on the deformable mirrors become more demanding. A simple scaling up of existing technologies from few hundred actuators to thousands of actuators will not be sufficient to satisfy the future needs of ESO. To bridge the gap between available deformable mirrors and the future needs for the E-ELT, ESO started a development program for deformable mirror technologies. The requirements and the path to get the deformable mirrors for post focal adaptive optics systems for the E-ELT is presented.

Direct Polishing of Full-Shell, High-Resolution X-Ray Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roche, Jacqueline M.; Gubarev, Mikhail V.; Smith, W. Scott; O'Dell, Stephen L.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffrey J.; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Ramsey, Brian D.; Elsner, Ronald F.

2014-01-01

Future x-ray telescopes will likely require lightweight mirrors to attain the large collecting areas needed to accomplish the science objectives. Understanding and demonstrating processes now is critical to achieving sub-arcsecond performance in the future. Consequently, designs not only of the mirrors but of fixtures for supporting them during fabrication, metrology, handling, assembly, and testing must be adequately modeled and verified. To this end, MSFC is using finite-element modeling to study the effects of mounting on thin, full-shell grazing-incidence mirrors, during all processes leading to a flight.

Crack Branching and Fracture Mirror Data of Glasses and Advanced Ceramics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Sung R.; Gyekenyesi, John P.

1998-01-01

The fracture mirror and crack branching constants were determined from three glasses and nine advanced ceramics tested under various loading and specimen configurations in an attempt to use the constants as a data base for fractography. The ratios of fracture mirror or crack branching constant to fracture toughness were found to be approximately two for most ceramic materials tested. A demonstration of how to use the two constants as a tool for verifying stress measurements was presented for silicon nitride disk specimens subjected to high-temperature, constant stress-rate biaxial flexure testing.

Development and calibration of mirrors and gratings for the Soft X-ray materials science beamline at the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser

DOE PAGES

Soufli, Regina; Fernandez-Perea, Monica; Baker, Sherry L.; ...

2012-04-18

This article discusses the development and calibration of the x-ray reflective and diffractive elements for the Soft X-ray Materials Science (SXR) beamline of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) free-electron laser (FEL), designed for operation in the 500 – 2000 eV region. The surface topography of three Si mirror substrates and two Si diffraction grating substrates was examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical profilometry. The figure of the mirror substrates was also verified via surface slope measurements with a long trace profiler. A boron carbide (B 4C) coating especially optimized for the LCLS FEL conditions was deposited onmore » all SXR mirrors and gratings. Coating thickness uniformity of 0.14 nm root mean square (rms) across clear apertures extending to 205 mm length was demonstrated for all elements, as required to preserve the coherent wavefront of the LCLS source. The reflective performance of the mirrors and the diffraction efficiency of the gratings were calibrated at beamline 6.3.2 at the Advanced Light Source synchrotron. To verify the integrity of the nanometer-scale grating structure, the grating topography was examined by AFM before and after coating. This is to our knowledge the first time B 4C-coated diffraction gratings are demonstrated for operation in the soft x-ray region.« less

Research on a bimorph piezoelectric deformable mirror for adaptive optics in optical telescope.

PubMed

Wang, Hairen

2017-04-03

We have proposed a discrete-layout bimorph piezoelectric deformable mirror (DBPDM) and developed its realistic electromechanical model. Compared with the conventional piezoelectric deformable mirror (CPDM) and the bimorph piezoelectric deformable mirror (BPDM), the DBPDM has both a larger stroke and a higher resonance frequency by integrating the strengths of the CPDM and the BPDM. To verify the advancement, a 21-elements DBPDM is studied in this paper. The results have suggested that the stroke of the DBPDM is larger than 10 microns and its resonance frequency is 53.3 kHz. Furthermore, numerical simulation is conducted on the deformation of the mirror using the realistic electromechanical model, and the dependence of the influence function upon the size of the radius of push pad is analyzed.

Large aperture telescope technology: a design for an active lightweight multi-segmented fold-out space mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, S. J.; Doel, A. P.; Whalley, M.; Edeson, R.; Edeson, R.; Tosh, I.; Poyntz-Wright, O.; Atad-Ettedgui, E.; Montgomery, D.; Nawasra, J.

2017-11-01

Large aperture telescope technology (LATT) is a design study for a differential lidar (DIAL) system; the main investigation being into suitable methods, technologies and materials for a 4-metre diameter active mirror that can be stowed to fit into a typical launch vehicle (e.g. ROKOT launcher with 2.1-metre diameter cargo) and can self-deploy - in terms of both leaving the space vehicle and that the mirrors unfold and self-align to the correct optical form within the tolerances specified. The primary mirror requirements are: main wavelength of 935.5 nm, RMS corrected wavefront error of λ/6, optical surface roughness better than 5 nm, areal density of less than 16 kg/m2 and 1-2 mirror shape corrections per orbit. The primary mirror consists of 7 segments - a central hexagonal mirror and 6 square mirror petals which unfold to form the 4-meter diameter aperture. The focus of the UK LATT consortium for this European Space Agency (ESA) funded project is on using lightweighted aluminium or carbon-fibre-composite materials for the mirror substrate in preference to more traditional materials such as glass and ceramics; these materials have a high strength and stiffness to weight ratio, significantly reducing risk of damage due to launch forces and subsequent deployment in orbit. We present an overview of the design, which includes suitable actuators for wavefront correction, petal deployment mechanisms and lightweight mirror technologies. Preliminary testing results from manufactured lightweight mirror samples will also be summarised.

Characterization of the JWST Pathfinder mirror dynamics using the center of curvature optical assembly (CoCOA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wells, Conrad; Hadaway, James B.; Olczak, Gene; Cosentino, Joseph; Johnston, John D.; Whitman, Tony; Connolly, Mark; Chaney, David; Knight, J. Scott; Telfer, Randal

2016-07-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Telescope Element (OTE) consists of a 6.6 m clear aperture, 18 segment primary mirror, all-reflective, three-mirror anastigmat operating at cryogenic temperatures. To verify performance of the primary mirror, a full aperture center of curvature optical null test is performed under cryogenic conditions in Chamber A at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) using an instantaneous phase measuring interferometer. After phasing the mirrors during the JWST Pathfinder testing, the interferometer is utilized to characterize the mirror relative piston and tilt dynamics under different facility configurations. The correlation between the motions seen on detectors at the focal plane and the interferometer validates the use of the interferometer for dynamic investigations. The success of planned test hardware improvements will be characterized by the multi-wavelength interferometer (MWIF) at the Center of Curvature Optical Assembly (CoCOA).

Characterization of the JWST Pathfinder Mirror Dynamics Using the Center of Curvature Optical Assembly (CoCOA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wells, Conrad; Hadaway, James B.; Olczak, Gene; Cosentino, Joseph; Johnston, John D.; Whitman, Tony; Connolly, Mark; Chaney, David; Knight, J. Scott; Telfer, Randal

2016-01-01

The JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) Optical Telescope Element (OTE) consists of a 6.6 meter clear aperture, 18-segment primary mirror, all-reflective, three-mirror anastigmat operating at cryogenic temperatures. To verify performance of the primary mirror, a full aperture center of curvature optical null test is performed under cryogenic conditions in Chamber A at NASA Johnson Space Center using an instantaneous phase measuring interferometer. After phasing the mirrors during the JWST Pathfinder testing, the interferometer is utilized to characterize the mirror relative piston and tilt dynamics under different facility configurations. The correlation between the motions seen on detectors at the focal plane and the interferometer validates the use of the interferometer for dynamic investigations. The success of planned test hardware improvements will be characterized by the multi-wavelength interferometer (MWIF) at the Center of Curvature Optical Assembly (CoCOA).

New fabrication method for an ellipsoidal neutron focusing mirror with a metal substrate.

PubMed

Guo, Jiang; Takeda, Shin; Morita, Shin-ya; Hino, Masahiro; Oda, Tatsuro; Kato, Jun-ichi; Yamagata, Yutaka; Furusaka, Michihiro

2014-10-06

We propose an ellipsoidal neutron focusing mirror using a metal substrate made with electroless nickel-phosphorus (NiP) plated material for the first time. Electroless NiP has great advantages for realizing an ellipsoidal neutron mirror because of its amorphous structure, good machinability and relatively large critical angle of total reflection for neutrons. We manufactured the mirror by combining ultrahigh precision cutting and fine polishing to generate high form accuracy and low surface roughness. The form accuracy of the mirror was estimated to be 5.3 μm P-V and 0.8 μm P-V for the minor-axis and major-axis direction respectively, while the surface roughness was reduced to 0.2 nm rms. The effect of form error on focusing spot size was evaluated by using a laser beam and the focusing performance of the mirror was verified by neutron experiments.

EAGLE: relay mirror technology development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartman, Mary; Restaino, Sergio R.; Baker, Jeffrey T.; Payne, Don M.; Bukley, Jerry W.

2002-06-01

EAGLE (Evolutionary Air & Space Global Laser Engagement) is the proposed high power weapon system with a high power laser source, a relay mirror constellation, and the necessary ground and communications links. The relay mirror itself will be a satellite composed of two optically-coupled telescopes/mirrors used to redirect laser energy from ground, air, or space based laser sources to distant points on the earth or space. The receiver telescope captures the incoming energy, relays it through an optical system that cleans up the beam, then a separate transmitter telescope/mirror redirects the laser energy at the desired target. Not only is it a key component in extending the range of DoD's current laser weapon systems, it also enables ancillary missions. Furthermore, if the vacuum of space is utilized, then the atmospheric effects on the laser beam propagation will be greatly attenuated. Finally, several critical technologies are being developed to make the EAGLE/Relay Mirror concept a reality, and the Relay Mirror Technology Development Program was set up to address them. This paper will discuss each critical technology, the current state of the work, and the future implications of this program.

Last results of technological developments for ultra-lightweight, large aperture, deployable mirror for space telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gambicorti, Lisa; D'Amato, Francesco; Vettore, Christian; Duò, Fabrizio; Guercia, Alessio; Patauner, Christian; Biasi, Roberto; Lisi, Franco; Riccardi, Armando; Gallieni, Daniele; Lazzarini, Paolo; Tintori, Matteo; Zuccaro Marchi, Alessandro; Pereira do Carmo, Joao

2017-11-01

The aim of this work is to describe the latest results of new technological concepts for Large Aperture Telescopes Technology (LATT) using thin deployable lightweight active mirrors. This technology is developed under the European Space Agency (ESA) Technology Research Program and can be exploited in all the applications based on the use of primary mirrors of space telescopes with large aperture, segmented lightweight telescopes with wide Field of View (FOV) and low f/#, and LIDAR telescopes. The reference mission application is a potential future ESA mission, related to a space borne DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) instrument operating around 935.5 nm with the goal to measure water vapor profiles in atmosphere. An Optical BreadBoard (OBB) for LATT has been designed for investigating and testing two critical aspects of the technology: 1) control accuracy in the mirror surface shaping. 2) mirror survivability to launch. The aim is to evaluate the effective performances of the long stroke smart-actuators used for the mirror control and to demonstrate the effectiveness and the reliability of the electrostatic locking (EL) system to restraint the thin shell on the mirror backup structure during launch. The paper presents a comprehensive vision of the breadboard focusing on how the requirements have driven the design of the whole system and of the various subsystems. The manufacturing process of the thin shell is also presented.

Structural design of a large deformable primary mirror for a space telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, J. G. R.

A 4 meter aperture deformable primary mirror is designed with the mirror and its supports integrated into a single structure. The integrated active mirror's minimal weight makes it desirable for a space telescope as well as a terrestrial application. Utilizing displacement actuators, the active controls at the mirror's surface include position control and slope control in both the radial and tangential directions at each of the 40 control points. Influence functions for each of the controls are nearly independent, reducing the complexity of the control system. Experiments with breadboard models verify the structural concept and the techniques used in the finite element method of computer structural analysis. The majority of this paper is a description of finite element analysis results. Localization of influence functions is exhaustively treated. For gravity loads, a thermal gradient through the mirror thickness, and a uniform thermal soak, diffraction limited performance of the 4m design is evaluated. Loads are applied to defocus the mirror and to cause fourth-order astigmatism. Mirror scallop, instigated by a focus shift, has been virtually eliminated with the 40-actuator design. The structural concept is so effective that it should be considered for uncontrolled primary mirrors as well as active mirrors.

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Project: 3.0 Year Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2015-01-01

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) is a funded NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology project. Begun in 2011, we are in Phase 2 of a multi-year effort. Our objective is to mature towards TRL6 critical technologies needed to produce 4-m or larger flight-qualified UVOIR mirrors by 2018 so that a viable astronomy mission can be considered by the 2020 Decadal Review. The developed technology must enable missions capable of both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. Just as JWST's architecture was driven by launch vehicle, a future UVOIR mission's architecture (monolithic, segmented or interferometric) will depend on capacities of future launch vehicles (and budget). Since we cannot predict the future, we must prepare for all potential futures. Therefore, we are pursuing multiple technology paths. AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND result in a high-performance low-cost low-risk system. One of our key accomplishments is that we have derived engineering specifications for advanced normal-incidence monolithic and segmented mirror systems needed to enable both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets missions as a function of potential launch vehicle and its inherent mass and volume constraints. Another key accomplishment is that we have matured our technology by building and testing hardware. To demonstrate stacked core technology, we built a 400 mm thick mirror. Currently, to demonstrate lateral scalability, we are manufacturing a 1.5 meter mirror. To assist in architecture trade studies, the Engineering team develops Structural, Thermal and Optical Performance (STOP) models of candidate mirror assembly systems including substrates, structures, and mechanisms. These models are validated by test of full- and subscale components in relevant thermo-vacuum environments. Specific analyses include: maximum mirror substrate size, first fundamental mode frequency (i.e., stiffness) and mass required to fabricate without quilting, survive launch, and achieve stable pointing and maximum thermal time constant.

Poco Graphite Mirror Metrology Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kester, Thomas J.

2005-01-01

Recently a lightweight mirror technology was tested at Marshall Space Flight Center's Space Optic Manufacturing Technology Center (MSFC, SOMTC). The mirror is a Poco Graphite CVD Si clad SiC substrate. It was tested for cryogenic (cryo) survivability to 20deg Kelvin in SOMTC's X-ray Calibration and Cryogenic Test Facility. The surface figure of the mirror was measured before and after cry0 cycling. The test technique and results are discussed.

Thermal design and test of a high power spacecraft transponder platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stipandic, E. A.; Gray, A. M.; Gedeon, L.

1975-01-01

The high power transponder subsystem on board the Communications Technology Satellite (CTS) requires some unique thermal control techniques to maintain the required temperature limits throughout all mission phases. The transponder subsystem includes redundant 20-W output travelling wave tubes and a single 200-W output TWT with highly concentrated thermal dissipations of 70 W and 143 W, respectively. A thermal control system which maintains all components within the required temperature ranges has been designed and verified in thermal balance testing. Included in the design are second surface quartz mirrors on an aluminum honeycomb platform, high thermal conductivity aluminum doubler plates, commandable thermal control heaters and a Variable Conductance Heat Pipe System (VCHPS).

A dispersed fringe sensor prototype for the Giant Magellan Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frostig, Danielle; McLeod, Brian A.; Kopon, Derek

2017-01-01

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will employ seven 8.4m primary mirror segments and seven 1m secondary mirror segments to achieve the diffraction limit of a 25.4m aperture. One challenge of the GMT is keeping the seven pairs of mirror segments in phase. We present a conceptual opto mechanical design for a prototype dispersed fringe sensor. The prototype, which operates at J-band and incorporates an infrared avalanche photodiode array, will be deployed on the Magellan Clay Telescope to verify the sensitivity and accuracy of the planned GMT phasing sensor.

Compensation for 6.5 K cryogenic distortion of a fused quartz mirror by refiguring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Augason, Gordon C.; Young, Jeffrey A.; Melugin, Ramsey K.; Clarke, Dana S.; Howard, Steven D.; Scanlan, Michael; Wong, Steven; Lawton, Kenneth C.

1993-01-01

A 46 cm diameter, lightweight, Amersil TO8E, fused-natural-quartz mirror with a single-arch cross section was tested at the NASA-Ames Research Center Cryogenic Optical Test Facility to measure its cryogenic distortion at 6.5 K. Then the mirror was refigured with the inverse of the measured cryogenic distortion to compensate for this figure defect. The mirror was retested at 6.5 K and found to have a significantly improved figure. The compensation for cryogenic distortion was not complete, but preliminary analysis indicates that the compensation was better than 0.25 waves P-V if edge effects are ignored. The feasibility of compensating for cryogenic distortion by refiguring has thus been verified.

12 J, 10 Hz diode-pumped Nd:YAG distributed active mirror amplifier chain with ASE suppression.

PubMed

Liu, Tinghao; Sui, Zhan; Chen, Lin; Li, Zhupeng; Liu, Qiang; Gong, Mali; Fu, Xing

2017-09-04

Experimental amplification of 10-ns pulses to an energy of 12.2 J at the repetition rate of 1-10 Hz is reported from a diode-pumped room-temperature distributed active mirror amplifier chain (DAMAC) based on Nd:YAG slabs. Efficient power scaling at the optical-optical efficiency of 20.6% was achieved by suppressing the transverse parasitic oscillation with ASE absorbers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG active-mirror laser with nanosecond pulse energy beyond 10 joules. The verified DAMAC concept holds the promise of scaling the energy to a 50 J level and higher by adding 10-12 more pieces of active mirror in the chain.

The Development of Stacked Core Technology for the Fabrication of Deep Lightweight UV-quality Space Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Gary W.; Kirk, Charles S.; Maffett, Steven P.; Abplanalp, Calvin E.; Stahl, H. Philip; Effinger, Michael R.

2013-01-01

The Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. Under Science and Technology funding, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Exelis have developed a more cost effective process to make up to 4m monolithic spaceflight UV quality, low areal density, thermally and dynamically stable primary mirrors. A proof of concept mirror was completed at Exelis and tested down to 250K at MSFC which would allow imaging out to 2.5 microns. The parameters and test results of this concept mirror will be shown. The scale-up process will be discussed and the technology development path to a 4m mirror system by 2018 will also be outlined.

Development of Stacked Core Technology for the Fabrication of Deep Lightweight UV Quality Space Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Gary; Kirk, Charlie; Maffett, Steve; Abplanalp, Cal; Stahl, H. Philip

2013-01-01

Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. Under Science and Technology funding, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and ITT Exelis have developed a more cost effective process to make up to 4m monolithic spaceflight UV quality, low areal density, thermally and dynamically stable primary mirrors. A proof of concept mirror was completed at ITT Exelis and tested down to 250K at MSFC which would allow imaging out to 2.5 microns. The parameters and test results of this concept mirror will be shown. The scale-up process will be discussed and the technology development path to a 4m mirror system by 2018 will also be outlined.

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2014-01-01

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) is a multi-year effort to systematically mature to TRL-6 the critical technologies needed to produce 4-m or larger flight-qualified UVOIR mirrors by 2018 so that a viable mission can be considered by the 2020 Decadal Review. This technology must enable missions capable of both general astrophysics & ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. To accomplish our objective, We use a science-driven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND result in a high-performance low-cost low-risk system.

Directed Energy Technology Overview

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

with an AR coating, The primary mirror is zerodur on a 9 point mount incorporating a tuned mass damper.. The secondary, tertiary, and coude optics are...beam conditioning back end section: • A beam expander enlarges the beam and shapes it to fill the active area of a deformable mirror • Because of the...enabling technologies that would make a 100-kW SS laser possible (high power optical coatings, high power gain modules, deformable mirror technology

Thermal Model Development for an X-Ray Mirror Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bonafede, Joseph A.

2015-01-01

Space-based x-ray optics require stringent thermal environmental control to achieve the desired image quality. Future x-ray telescopes will employ hundreds of nearly cylindrical, thin mirror shells to maximize effective area, with each shell built from small azimuthal segment pairs for manufacturability. Thermal issues with these thin optics are inevitable because the mirrors must have a near unobstructed view of space while maintaining near uniform 20 C temperature to avoid thermal deformations. NASA Goddard has been investigating the thermal characteristics of a future x-ray telescope with an image requirement of 5 arc-seconds and only 1 arc-second focusing error allocated for thermal distortion. The telescope employs 135 effective mirror shells formed from 7320 individual mirror segments mounted in three rings of 18, 30, and 36 modules each. Thermal requirements demand a complex thermal control system and detailed thermal modeling to verify performance. This presentation introduces innovative modeling efforts used for the conceptual design of the mirror assembly and presents results demonstrating potential feasibility of the thermal requirements.

Low-stress mounting configuration design for large aperture laser transport mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zheng; Quan, Xusong; Yao, Chao; Wang, Hui

2016-10-01

TM1-6S1 large aperture laser transport mirror is a crucial optical unit of high power solid-state laser in the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) facility. This article focuses on the low-stress and precise mounting method of large-aperture mirror. Based on the engineering practice of SG-III, the state-of-the-art and key problems of current mounting configuration are clarified firstly. Subsequently, a brand new low-stress mounting configuration with flexure supports is proposed. Opto-mechanical model of the mirror under mounting force is built up with elastic mechanics theory. Further, numerical methods and field tests are employed to verify the favorable load uniform capacity and load adjust capacity of flexure supports. With FEM, the relation between the mounting force from new configuration and the mirror surface distortion (wavefront error) is clarified. The novel mounting method of large aperture optics could be not only used on this laser transport mirror, but also on the other transmission optics and large crystals in ICF facilities.

Analysis and Verification of HET 1 m Mirror Deflections Due to Edge Sensor Loading

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stallcup, Michael A.; Whitaker, Ann F. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The ninety-one 1 m mirror segments which comprise the McDonald Observatory Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET) primary mirror have been observed to drift out of alignment in an unpredictable manner in response to time variant temperature deviations. A Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS) is being developed to detect and correct this segment-to-segment drift using sensors mounted at the edges of the mirror segments. However, the segments were not originally designed to carry the weight of edge sensors. Thus, analyses and tests were conducted as part of the SAMS design to estimate the magnitude and shape of the edge sensor induced deformations as well as the resultant optical performance. Interferometric testing of a 26 m radius of curvature HET mirror segment was performed at the Marshall Space Flight Center using several load conditions to verify the finite element analyses.

Czechoslovak Replica X-Ray Mirrors for Astronomical Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudec, R.; Valnicek, B.

Imaging X-ray mirrors has been developed in Czechoslovakia since 1970 by a way of two different replica technologies based on galvanoplastics and reactoplastics as a natural part of Czechoslovak X-ray astronomy program. Until now about 30 mirros with diameters between 1.7 and 24 cm were manufactured. Seven mirrors were flown in space experiments. The new technology used since 1981 allows to produce light-weight X-ray mirrors at relatively very low cost. The technology offers interesting possibilities in construction of (1) large arrays of identical optical systems, (2) very small (microscopic) mirros and (3) lobster-eye type optics. Advantages and drawbacks of replica techology are discussed.

Adjustable bipod flexures for mounting mirrors in a space telescope.

PubMed

Kihm, Hagyong; Yang, Ho-Soon; Moon, Il Kweon; Yeon, Jeong-Heum; Lee, Seung-Hoon; Lee, Yun-Woo

2012-11-10

A new mirror mounting technique applicable to the primary mirror in a space telescope is presented. This mounting technique replaces conventional bipod flexures with flexures having mechanical shims so that adjustments can be made to counter the effects of gravitational distortion of the mirror surface while being tested in the horizontal position. Astigmatic aberration due to the gravitational changes is effectively reduced by adjusting the shim thickness, and the relation between the astigmatism and the shim thickness is investigated. We tested the mirror interferometrically at the center of curvature using a null lens. Then we repeated the test after rotating the mirror about its optical axis by 180° in the horizontal setup, and searched for the minimum system error. With the proposed flexure mount, the gravitational stress at the adhesive coupling between the mirror and the mount is reduced by half that of a conventional bipod flexure for better mechanical safety under launch loads. Analytical results using finite element methods are compared with experimental results from the optical interferometer. Vibration tests verified the mechanical safety and optical stability, and qualified their use in space applications.

The center of curvature optical assembly for the JWST primary mirror cryogenic optical test: optical verification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wells, Conrad; Olczak, Gene; Merle, Cormic; Dey, Tom; Waldman, Mark; Whitman, Tony; Wick, Eric; Peer, Aaron

2010-08-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Telescope Element (OTE) consists of a 6.6 m clear aperture, allreflective, three-mirror anastigmat. The 18-segment primary mirror (PM) presents unique and challenging assembly, integration, alignment and testing requirements. A full aperture center of curvature optical test is performed in cryogenic vacuum conditions at the integrated observatory level to verify PM performance requirements. The Center of Curvature Optical Assembly (CoCOA), designed and being built by ITT satisfies the requirements for this test. The CoCOA contains a multi wave interferometer, patented reflective null lens, actuation for alignment, full in situ calibration capability, coarse and fine alignment sensing systems, as well as a system for monitoring changes in the PM to CoCOA distance. Two wave front calibration tests are utilized to verify the low and Mid/High spatial frequencies, overcoming the limitations of the standard null/hologram configuration in its ability to resolve mid and high spatial frequencies. This paper will introduce the systems level architecture and optical test layout for the CoCOA.

Thin Mirror Shaping Technology for High-Throughput X-ray Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schattenburg, Mark

This proposal is submitted to the NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences program (ROSES-2012) in response to NASA Research Announcement NNH12ZDA001N- APRA. It is targeted to the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research and Analysis (APRA) program element under the Supporting Technology category. Powerful x-ray telescope mirrors are critical components of a raft of small-to-large mission concepts under consideration by NASA. The science questions addressed by these missions have certainly never been more compelling and the need to fulfill NASA s core missions of exploring the universe and strengthening our nation s technology base has never been greater. Unfortunately, budgetary constraints are driving NASA to consider the cost/benefit and risk factors of new missions more carefully than ever. New technology for producing x-ray telescopes with increased resolution and collecting area, while holding down cost, are key to meeting these goals and sustaining a thriving high-energy astrophysics enterprise in the US. We propose to develop advanced technology which will lead to thin-shell x-ray telescope mirrors rivaling the Chandra x-ray telescope in spatial resolution but with 10-100X larger area all at significantly reduced weight, risk and cost. The proposed effort builds on previous research at MIT and complements NASA-supported research at other institutions. We are currently pursuing two thin-mirror technology development tracks which we propose to extend and accelerate with NASA support. The first research track utilizes rapidly-maturing thermal glass slumping technology which uses porous ceramic air-bearing mandrels to shape glass mirrors without touching, thus avoiding surface-induced mid-range spatial frequency ripples. A second research track seeks to remove any remaining mid- to long-range errors in mirrors by using scanning ion-beam implant to impart small, highly deterministic and very stable amounts of stress into thin glass, utilizing local bending moments to correct mirror shape. Preliminary results from our lab demonstrate the simplicity, specificity, and exquisite sensitivity of this technique on silicon and glass wafers. We believe that the combination of these new technologies has the potential to revolutionize thin mirror shaping technology and will enable a renaissance in high-energy astrophysics.

Advanced technology optical telescopes IV; Proceedings of the Meeting, Tucson, AZ, Feb. 12-16, 1990. Parts 1 & 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barr, Lawrence D. (Editor)

1990-01-01

The present conference on the current status of large, advanced-technology optical telescope development and construction projects discusses topics on such factors as their novel optical system designs, the use of phased arrays, seeing and site performance factors, mirror fabrication and testing, pointing and tracking techniques, mirror thermal control, structural design strategies, mirror supports and coatings, and the control of segmented mirrors. Attention is given to the proposed implementation of the VLT Interferometer, the first diffraction-limited astronomical images with adaptive optics, a fiber-optic telescope using a large cross-section image-transmitting bundle, the design of wide-field arrays, Hartmann test data reductions, liquid mirrors, inertial drives for telescope pointing, temperature control of large honeycomb mirrors, evaporative coatings for very large telescope mirrors, and the W. M. Keck telescope's primary mirror active control system software.

Kodak AMSD Mirror Development Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Gary; Dahl, Roger; Barrett, David; Bottom, John; Russell, Kevin (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Advanced Mirror System Demonstration Program is developing minor technology for the next generation optical systems. Many of these systems will require extremely lightweight and stable optics due to the overall size of the primary mirror. These segmented, deployable systems require new technology that AMSD is developing. The on-going AMSD program is a critical enabler for Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) which will start in 2002. The status of Kodak's AMSD mirror and future plans will be discussed with respect to the NGST program.

Mirror Technology Development for the International X-ray Observatory Mission

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-06

Solar Panels E xt en si bl e O pt ic al B en ch Focal plane assembly Mirror Assembly ESA JAXA NASA Will Zhang Mirror Tech Days...0.1 m2 0.5 arcsecs 0.4 m2 15 arcsecs 0.2 m2 120 arcsecs St at e of th e A rt IXO Requirement 3 m2 5 arcsecs Will Zhang Mirror...QED Technologies, Rochester, NY Rodriguez Precision Optics, Gonzales, LA Dallas Optical Systems, Inc., Rockwall, TX RAPT Industries, Inc., Freemont

Segmented X-Ray Optics for Future Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClelland, Ryan S.

2013-01-01

Lightweight and high resolution mirrors are needed for future space-based X-ray telescopes to achieve advances in high-energy astrophysics. The slumped glass mirror technology in development at NASA GSFC aims to build X-ray mirror modules with an area to mass ratio of approx.17 sq cm/kg at 1 keV and a resolution of 10 arc-sec Half Power Diameter (HPD) or better at an affordable cost. As the technology nears the performance requirements, additional engineering effort is needed to ensure the modules are compatible with space-flight. This paper describes Flight Mirror Assembly (FMA) designs for several X-ray astrophysics missions studied by NASA and defines generic driving requirements and subsequent verification tests necessary to advance technology readiness for mission implementation. The requirement to perform X-ray testing in a horizontal beam, based on the orientation of existing facilities, is particularly burdensome on the mirror technology, necessitating mechanical over-constraint of the mirror segments and stiffening of the modules in order to prevent self-weight deformation errors from dominating the measured performance. This requirement, in turn, drives the mass and complexity of the system while limiting the testable angular resolution. Design options for a vertical X-ray test facility alleviating these issues are explored. An alternate mirror and module design using kinematic constraint of the mirror segments, enabled by a vertical test facility, is proposed. The kinematic mounting concept has significant advantages including potential for higher angular resolution, simplified mirror integration, and relaxed thermal requirements. However, it presents new challenges including low vibration modes and imperfections in kinematic constraint. Implementation concepts overcoming these challenges are described along with preliminary test and analysis results demonstrating the feasibility of kinematically mounting slumped glass mirror segments.

The backward ray tracing with effective solar brightness used to simulate the concentrated flux map of a solar tower concentrator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Minghuan; Sun, Feihu; Wang, Zhifeng

2017-06-01

The solar tower concentrator is mainly composed of the central receiver on the tower top and the heliostat field around the tower. The optical efficiencies of a solar tower concentrator are important to the whole thermal performance of the solar tower collector, and the aperture plane of a cavity receiver or the (inner or external) absorbing surface of any central receiver is a key interface of energy flux. So it is necessary to simulate and analyze the concentrated time-changing solar flux density distributions on the flat or curved receiving surface of the collector, with main optical errors considered. The transient concentrated solar flux on the receiving surface is the superimposition of the flux density distributions of all the normal working heliostats in the field. In this paper, we will mainly introduce a new backward ray tracing (BRT) method combined with the lumped effective solar cone, to simulate the flux density map on the receiving-surface. For BRT, bundles of rays are launched at the receiving-surface points of interest, strike directly on the valid cell centers among the uniformly sampled mirror cell centers in the mirror surface of the heliostats, and then direct to the effective solar cone around the incident sun beam direction after reflection. All the optical errors are convoluted into the effective solar cone. The brightness distribution of the effective solar cone is here supposed to be circular Gaussian type. The mirror curvature can be adequately formulated by certain number of local normal vectors at the mirror cell centers of a heliostat. The shading & blocking mirror region of a heliostat by neighbor heliostats and also the solar tower shading on the heliostat mirror are all computed on the flat-ground-plane platform, i.e., projecting the mirror contours and the envelope cylinder of the tower onto the horizontal ground plane along the sun-beam incident direction or along the reflection directions. If the shading projection of a sampled mirror point of the current heliostat is inside the shade cast of a neighbor heliostat or in the shade cast of the tower, this mirror point should be shaded from the incident sun beam. A code based on this new ray tracing method for the 1MW Badaling solar tower power plant in Beijing has been developed using MATLAB. There are 100 azimuth-elevation tracking heliostats in the solar field and the total tower is 118 meters high. The mirror surface of the heliostats is 10m wide and 10m long, it is composed of 8 rows × 8 columns of square mirror facets and each mirror facet has the size of 1.25m×1.25m. This code also was verified by two sets of sun-beam concentrating experiments of the heliostat field on the June 14, 2015. One set of optical experiments were conducted between some typical heliostats to verify the shading & blocking computation of the code, since shading & blocking computation is the most complicated, time-consuming and important optical computing section of the code. The other set of solar concentrating tests were carried out on the field center heliostat (No. 78) to verify the simulated the solar flux images on the white target region of the northern wall of the tower. The target center is 74.5 m high to the ground plane.

Two-dimensional designed fabrication of subwavelength grating HCG mirror on silicon-on-insulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Shen-Che; Hong, Kuo-Bin; Lu, Tien-Chang; He, Sailing

2016-03-01

We designed and fabricated a two dimensional high contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) mirrors. The computer-aided software was employed to verify the structural parameters including grating periods and filling factors. From the optimized simulation results, the designed HCG structure has a wide reflection stopband (reflectivity (R) >90%) of over 200 nm, which centered at telecommunication wavelength. The optimized HCG mirrors were fabricated by electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma process technique. The experimental result was almost consistent with calculated data. This achievement should have an impact on numerous photonic devices helpful attribution to the integrated HCG VCSELs in the future.

PLZT Ceramic Driving Rotary Micro-mirror Based on Photoelectric-electrostatic Mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Yujuan; Yang, Zhong; Chen, Yusong; Wang, Xinjie

2017-12-01

Based on the anomalous photovoltaic effect of PLZT, a rotary micro-mirror driven by hybrid photoelectric-electrostatic actuation of PLZT ceramic is proposed. Firstly, the mathematical modelling of coupled multi-physics fields of PLZT ceramic is established during illumination and light off phases. Then, the relationship between the rotation angle and the photovoltage of PLZT ceramics is established. In addition, the feasibility of rotary micro-mirror with hybrid photoelectric-electrostatic driving is verified via closed-loop control for photo-induced voltage of PLZT ceramic. The experimental results show that the photo-induced voltage of PLZT ceramics has good dynamic control precision using on-off closed-loop control method.

Hubble Space Telescope COSTAR asphere verification with a modified computer-generated hologram interferometer. [Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feinberg, L.; Wilson, M.

1993-01-01

To correct for the spherical aberration in the Hubble Space Telescope primary mirror, five anamorphic aspheric mirrors representing correction for three scientific instruments have been fabricated as part of the development of the corrective-optics space telescope axial-replacement instrument (COSTAR). During the acceptance tests of these mirrors at the vendor, a quick and simple method for verifying the asphere surface figure was developed. The technique has been used on three of the aspheres relating to the three instrument prescriptions. Results indicate that the three aspheres are correct to the limited accuracy expected of this test.

Simbol-X Mirror Module Thermal Shields: II-Small Angle X-Ray Scattering Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbera, M.; Ayers, T.; Collura, A.; Nasillo, G.; Pareschi, G.; Tagliaferri, G.

2009-05-01

The formation flight configuration of the Simbol-X mission implies that the X-ray mirror module will be open to Space on both ends. In order to reduce the power required to maintain the thermal stability and, therefore, the high angular resolution of the shell optics, a thin foil thermal shield will cover the mirror module. Different options are presently being studied for the foil material of these shields. We report results of an experimental investigation conducted to verify that the scattering of X-rays, by interaction with the thin foil material of the thermal shield, will not significantly affect the performances of the telescope.

Advanced UVOIR Mirror Technology Development for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Effinger, Mike; Stahl, H. Philip

2015-01-01

The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in phase 2 of a multiyear effort, initiated in FY 2012. This effort is to mature, by at least a half Technology Readiness Level step, the critical technologies required to enable 4-meter or larger ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) space telescope primary mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. AMTD continues to achieve all of its goals and has accomplished all of its milestones to date. This has been achieved by assembling an outstanding team from academia, industry, and government with extensive expertise in astrophysics and exoplanet characterization, and in the design/manufacture of monolithic and segmented space telescopes; by deriving engineering specifications for advanced normal-incidence mirror systems needed to make the required science measurements; and by defining and prioritizing the most important technical problems to be solved. Our results have been presented to the CoPAG and Mirror Tech Days 2013, and proceedings papers of the 2013 and 2014 SPIE Optics & Photonics Symposia have been published.

Status of the Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Phase 2, 1.5m ULE(Registered Trademark) Mirror

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Egerman, Robert; Matthews, Gary W.; Johnson, Matthew; Ferland, Albert; Stahl, H. Philip; Eng, Ron; Effinger, Michael R.

2015-01-01

The Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. Under Science and Technology funding, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Exelis have developed a more cost effective process to make up to 4m monolithic spaceflight UV quality, low areal density, thermally and dynamically stable primary mirrors. Under a Phase I program, a proof of concept mirror was completed at Exelis and tested down to 250K at MSFC which would allow imaging out to 2.5 microns. In 2014, Exelis and NASA started a Phase II program to design and build a 1.5m mirror to demonstrate lateral scalability to a 4m monolithic primary mirror. The current status of the Phase II development program will be provided along with a Phase II program summary.

Analysis on influence of installation error of off-axis three-mirror optical system on imaging line-of-sight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Lingyu; Li, Xinghua; Guo, Qianrui; Quan, Jing; Hu, Zhengyue; Su, Zhikun; Zhang, Dong; Liu, Peilu; Li, Haopeng

2018-01-01

The internal structure of off-axis three-mirror system is commonly complex. The mirror installation error in assembly always affects the imaging line-of-sight and further degrades the image quality. Due to the complexity of the optical path in off-axis three-mirror optical system, the straightforward theoretical analysis on the variations of imaging line-of-sight is extremely difficult. In order to simplify the theoretical analysis, an equivalent single-mirror system is proposed and presented in this paper. In addition, the mathematical model of single-mirror system is established and the accurate expressions of imaging coordinate are derived. Utilizing the simulation software ZEMAX, off-axis three-mirror model and single-mirror model are both established. By adjusting the position of mirror and simulating the line-of-sight rotation of optical system, the variations of imaging coordinates are clearly observed. The final simulation results include: in off-axis three-mirror system, the varying sensitivity of the imaging coordinate to the rotation of line-of-sight is approximately 30 um/″; in single-mirror system, the varying sensitivity of the imaging coordinate to the rotation of line-of-sight is 31.5 um/″. Compared to the simulation results of the off-axis three-mirror model, the 5% relative error of single-mirror model analysis highly satisfies the requirement of equivalent analysis and also verifies its validity. This paper presents a new method to analyze the installation error of the mirror in the off-axis three-mirror system influencing on the imaging line-of-sight. Moreover, the off-axis three-mirror model is totally equivalent to the single-mirror model in theoretical analysis.

Mirror Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

Under a NASA contract, MI-CVD developed a process for producing bulk silicon carbide by means of a chemical vapor deposition process. The technology allows growth of a high purity material with superior mechanical/thermal properties and high polishability - ideal for mirror applications. The company employed the technology to develop three research mirrors for NASA Langley and is now marketing it as CVD SILICON CARBIDE. Its advantages include light weight, thermal stability and high reflectivity. The material has nuclear research facility applications and is of interest to industrial users of high power lasers.

Model-Based Angular Scan Error Correction of an Electrothermally-Actuated MEMS Mirror

PubMed Central

Zhang, Hao; Xu, Dacheng; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Chen, Qiao; Xie, Huikai; Li, Suiqiong

2015-01-01

In this paper, the actuation behavior of a two-axis electrothermal MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) mirror typically used in miniature optical scanning probes and optical switches is investigated. The MEMS mirror consists of four thermal bimorph actuators symmetrically located at the four sides of a central mirror plate. Experiments show that an actuation characteristics difference of as much as 4.0% exists among the four actuators due to process variations, which leads to an average angular scan error of 0.03°. A mathematical model between the actuator input voltage and the mirror-plate position has been developed to predict the actuation behavior of the mirror. It is a four-input, four-output model that takes into account the thermal-mechanical coupling and the differences among the four actuators; the vertical positions of the ends of the four actuators are also monitored. Based on this model, an open-loop control method is established to achieve accurate angular scanning. This model-based open loop control has been experimentally verified and is useful for the accurate control of the mirror. With this control method, the precise actuation of the mirror solely depends on the model prediction and does not need the real-time mirror position monitoring and feedback, greatly simplifying the MEMS control system. PMID:26690432

Overview and Recent Accomplishments of Advanced Mirror Technology Development Phase 2 (AMTD-2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2015-01-01

AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach to define & execute a long-term strategy to mature technologies necessary to enable future large aperture space telescopes. Because we cannot predict the future, we are pursuing multiple technology paths including monolithic & segmented mirrors. Assembled outstanding team from academia, industry & government; experts in science & space telescope engineering. Derived engineering specifications from science measurement needs & implementation constraints. Maturing 6 critical technologies required to enable 4 to 8 meter UVOIR space telescope mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics & ultra-high contrast exoplanet imaging. AMTD achieving all its goals & accomplishing all its milestones.

Left-right leaf asymmetry in decussate and distichous phyllotactic systems.

PubMed

Martinez, Ciera C; Chitwood, Daniel H; Smith, Richard S; Sinha, Neelima R

2016-12-19

Leaves in plants with spiral phyllotaxy exhibit directional asymmetries, such that all the leaves originating from a meristem of a particular chirality are similarly asymmetric relative to each other. Models of auxin flux capable of recapitulating spiral phyllotaxis predict handed auxin asymmetries in initiating leaf primordia with empirically verifiable effects on superficially bilaterally symmetric leaves. Here, we extend a similar analysis of leaf asymmetry to decussate and distichous phyllotaxy. We found that our simulation models of these two patterns predicted mirrored asymmetries in auxin distribution in leaf primordia pairs. To empirically verify the morphological consequences of asymmetric auxin distribution, we analysed the morphology of a tomato sister-of-pin-formed1a (sopin1a) mutant, entire-2, in which spiral phyllotaxy consistently transitions to a decussate state. Shifts in the displacement of leaflets on the left and right sides of entire-2 leaf pairs mirror each other, corroborating predicted model results. We then analyse the shape of more than 800 common ivy (Hedera helix) and more than 3000 grapevine (Vitis and Ampelopsis spp.) leaf pairs and find statistical enrichment of predicted mirrored asymmetries. Our results demonstrate that left-right auxin asymmetries in models of decussate and distichous phyllotaxy successfully predict mirrored asymmetric leaf morphologies in superficially symmetric leaves.This article is part of the themed issue 'Provocative questions in left-right asymmetry'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Interferometers Sharpen Measurements for Better Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2013-01-01

Over the last decade, there have been a number of innovations that have made possible the largest and most powerful telescope of its time: the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Scheduled to launch in 2018, JWST will provide insight into what the oldest, most distant galaxies look like. When engineers build a first-of-its-kind instrument like the JWST, they often must make new tools to construct the new technology. Throughout the decades of planning, development, and construction of the JWST, NASA has worked with numerous partners to spur innovations that have enabled the telescope s creation. Though the JWST s launch date is still several years away, a number of these innovations are spinning off to provide benefits here on Earth. One of these spinoffs has emerged from the extensive testing the JWST must undergo to ensure it will function in the extreme environment of space. In order to test the JWST instruments in conditions that closely resemble those in space, NASA uses a cryogenic vacuum chamber. By dropping the temperatures down to -400 F and employing powerful pumps to remove air from the chamber, engineers can test whether the JWST instruments will function once the spacecraft leaves Earth. Traditionally, a phase-shifting interferometer is used to measure optics like the JWST s mirrors to verify their precise shape, down to tens of nanometers, during manufacturing. However, the large size of the mirrors, coupled with vibration induced by the cryo-pumps, prohibits the use of traditional phase-shifting interferometers to measure the mirrors within the chamber environment. Because the JWST will be located in deep space, far from any possible manned service mission, it was essential to find a robust solution to guarantee the performance of the mirrors.

SiC lightweight telescopes for advanced space applications. I - Mirror technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anapol, Michael I.; Hadfield, Peter

1992-01-01

A SiC based telescope is an extremely attractive emerging technology which offers the lightweight and stiffness features of beryllium, the optical performance of glass to diffraction limited visible resolution, superior optical/thermal stability to cryogenic temperatures, and the cost advantages of an aluminum telescope. SSG has developed various SiC mirrors with and without a silicon coating and tested these mirrors over temperature ranges from +50 C to -250 C. Our test results show less than 0.2 waves P-V in visible wavefront change and no hysteresis over this wide temperature range. Several SSG mirrors are representative of very lightweight SiC/Si mirrors including (1) a 9 cm diameter, high aspect ratio mirror weighing less than 30 grams and (2) a 23 cm diameter eggcrated mirror weighing less than 400 grams. SSG has also designed and analyzed a 0.6 meter SiC based, on axis, three mirror reimaging telescope in which the primary mirror weighs less than 6 kg and a 0.5 meter GOES-like scan mirror. SSG has also diamond turned several general aspheric SiC/Si mirrors with excellent cryo optical performance.

Contamination analyses of technology mirror assembly optical surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Germani, Mark S.

1991-01-01

Automated electron microprobe analyses were performed on tape lift samples from the Technology Mirror Assembly (TMA) optical surfaces. Details of the analyses are given, and the contamination of the mirror surfaces is discussed. Based on the automated analyses of the tape lifts from the TMA surfaces and the control blank, we can conclude that the particles identified on the actual samples were not a result of contamination due to the handling or sampling process itself and that the particles reflect the actual contamination on the surface of the mirror.

Research on stretched membrane with electrostatic curvature (SMEC) mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, X. W.; Jin, G.

Stretched Membrane with Electrostatic Curvature SMEC Mirrors is a new spatial optical technology recently developed in foreign countries which performed modification of figuration of SMEC Mirror in control of Electrostatic With the folding property of membrane when it was loaded this technology have taken on important prospect in system of spatial remote sensing in the future In this paper the fundamental of SMEC Mirror was introduced the more deeply analyzing of cybernetic model completed and at present research method based on synthesis of foreign development in the field was put forward

Tips for Improving Seed Planting Efficiency

Treesearch

R. Kasten Dumroese; David L. Wenny; Susan J. Morrison

2002-01-01

The efficiency of a precision seeder was improved by adding a mirror so employees could monitor seed levels and by marking seeds with brightly colored talc to quickly verify the accuracy of the machine.

SiC Design Guide: Manufacture of Silicon Carbide Products (Briefing charts)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-08

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Presented at Mirror Technology Days, Boulder...coatings. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Mirrors , structures, silicon carbide, design, inserts, coatings, pockets, ribs, bonding, threads 16. SECURITY...Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239.18 purify protect transport SiC Design Guide Manufacture of Silicon Carbide Products Mirror Technology Days June 7 to 9, 2010

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2013-01-01

Accomplishments include: Assembled outstanding team from academia, industry and government with expertise in science and space telescope engineering. Derived engineering specifications for monolithic primary mirror from science measurement needs & implementation constraints. Pursuing long-term strategy to mature technologies necessary to enable future large aperture space telescopes. Successfully demonstrated capability to make 0.5 m deep mirror substrate and polish it to UVOIR traceable figure specification.

Screening of a virtual mirror-image library of natural products.

PubMed

Noguchi, Taro; Oishi, Shinya; Honda, Kaori; Kondoh, Yasumitsu; Saito, Tamio; Ohno, Hiroaki; Osada, Hiroyuki; Fujii, Nobutaka

2016-06-08

We established a facile access to an unexplored mirror-image library of chiral natural product derivatives using d-protein technology. In this process, two chemical syntheses of mirror-image substances including a target protein and hit compound(s) allow the lead discovery from a virtual mirror-image library without the synthesis of numerous mirror-image compounds.

Hybrid Electrostatic/Flextensional Mirror for Lightweight, Large-Aperture, and Cryogenic Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patrick, Brian; Moore, James; Hackenberger, Wesley; Jiang, Xiaoning

2013-01-01

A lightweight, cryogenically capable, scalable, deformable mirror has been developed for space telescopes. This innovation makes use of polymer-based membrane mirror technology to enable large-aperture mirrors that can be easily launched and deployed. The key component of this innovation is a lightweight, large-stroke, cryogenic actuator array that combines the high degree of mirror figure control needed with a large actuator influence function. The latter aspect of the innovation allows membrane mirror figure correction with a relatively low actuator density, preserving the lightweight attributes of the system. The principal components of this technology are lightweight, low-profile, high-stroke, cryogenic-capable piezoelectric actuators based on PMN-PT (piezoelectric lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate) single-crystal configured in a flextensional actuator format; high-quality, low-thermal-expansion polymer membrane mirror materials developed by NeXolve; and electrostatic coupling between the membrane mirror and the piezoelectric actuator assembly to minimize problems such as actuator print-through.

The meter-class carbon fiber reinforced polymer mirror and segmented mirror telescope at the Naval Postgraduate School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilcox, Christopher; Fernandez, Bautista; Bagnasco, John; Martinez, Ty; Romeo, Robert; Agrawal, Brij

2015-03-01

The Adaptive Optics Center of Excellence for National Security at the Naval Postgraduate School has implemented a technology testing platform and array of facilities for next-generation space-based telescopes and imaging system development. The Segmented Mirror Telescope is a 3-meter, 6 segment telescope with actuators on its mirrors for system optical correction. Currently, investigation is being conducted in the use of lightweight carbon fiber reinforced polymer structures for large monolithic optics. Advantages of this material include lower manufacturing costs, very low weight, and high durability and survivability compared to its glass counterparts. Design and testing has begun on a 1-meter, optical quality CFRP parabolic mirror for the purpose of injecting collimated laser light through the SMT primary and secondary mirrors as well as the following aft optics that include wavefront sensors and deformable mirrors. This paper will present the design, testing, and usage of this CFRP parabolic mirror and the current path moving forward with this ever-evolving technology.

Lightweight high-performance 1-4 meter class spaceborne mirrors: emerging technology for demanding spaceborne requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hull, Tony; Hartmann, Peter; Clarkson, Andrew R.; Barentine, John M.; Jedamzik, Ralf; Westerhoff, Thomas

2010-07-01

Pending critical spaceborne requirements, including coronagraphic detection of exoplanets, require exceptionally smooth mirror surfaces, aggressive lightweighting, and low-risk cost-effective optical manufacturing methods. Simultaneous development at Schott for production of aggressively lightweighted (>90%) Zerodur® mirror blanks, and at L-3 Brashear for producing ultra-smooth surfaces on Zerodur®, will be described. New L-3 techniques for large-mirror optical fabrication include Computer Controlled Optical Surfacing (CCOS) pioneered at L-3 Tinsley, and the world's largest MRF machine in place at L-3 Brashear. We propose that exceptional mirrors for the most critical spaceborne applications can now be produced with the technologies described.

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Thermal Trade Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, Thomas

2015-01-01

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) is being done at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in preparation for the next large aperture UVOIR space observatory. A key science mission of that observatory is the detection and characterization of 'Earth-like' exoplanets. Direct exoplanet observation requires a telescope to see a planet which will be 10(exp -10) times dimmer than its host star. To accomplish this using an internal coronagraph requires a telescope with an ultra-stable wavefront error (WFE). This paper investigates parametric relationships between primary mirror physical parameters and thermal WFE stability. Candidate mirrors are designed as a mesh and placed into a thermal analysis model to determine the temperature distribution in the mirror when it is placed inside of an actively controlled cylindrical shroud at Lagrange point 2. Thermal strains resulting from the temperature distribution are found and an estimation of WFE is found to characterize the effect that thermal inputs have on the optical quality of the mirror. This process is repeated for several mirror material properties, material types, and mirror designs to determine how to design a mirror for thermal stability.

Low-Cost Large Aperture Telescopes for Optical Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hemmati, Hamid

2006-01-01

Low-cost, 0.5-1 meter ground apertures are required for near-Earth laser communications. Low-cost ground apertures with equivalent diameters greater than 10 meters are desired for deep-space communications. This presentation focuses on identifying schemes to lower the cost of constructing networks of large apertures while continuing to meet the requirements for laser communications. The primary emphasis here is on the primary mirror. A slumped glass spherical mirror, along with passive secondary mirror corrector and active adaptive optic corrector show promise as a low-cost alternative to large diameter monolithic apertures. To verify the technical performance and cost estimate, development of a 1.5-meter telescope equipped with gimbal and dome is underway.

3D mapping of turbulence: a laboratory experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Louarn, Miska; Dainty, Christopher; Paterson, Carl; Tallon, Michel

2000-07-01

In this paper, we present the first experimental results of the 3D mapping method. 3D mapping of turbulence is a method to remove the cone effect with multiple laser guide stars and multiple deformable mirrors. A laboratory experiment was realized to verify the theoretical predictions. The setup consisted of two turbulent phase screens (made with liquid crystal devices) and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. We describe the interaction matrix involved in reconstructing Zernike commands for multiple deformable mirror from the slope measurements made from laser guide stars. It is shown that mirror commands can indeed be reconstructed with the 3D mapping method. Limiting factors of the method, brought to light by this experiment are discussed.

Advanced UVOIR Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Smith, W. Scott; Mosier, Gary; Abplanalp, Laura; Arnold, William

2014-01-01

ASTRO2010 Decadal stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. AMTD builds on the state of art (SOA) defined by over 30 years of monolithic & segmented ground & space-telescope mirror technology to mature six key technologies. AMTD is deliberately pursuing multiple design paths to provide the science community with op-tions to enable either large aperture monolithic or segmented mirrors with clear engineering metrics traceable to science requirements.

Overview and Recent Accomplishments of Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2013-01-01

AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach to define & execute a long-term strategy to mature technologies necessary to enable future large aperture space telescopes. Because we cannot predict the future, we are pursuing multiple technology paths including monolithic & segmented mirrors. Assembled outstanding team from academia, industry & government; experts in science & space telescope engineering. Derived engineering specifications from science measurement needs & implementation constraints. Maturing 6 critical technologies required to enable 4 to 8 meter UVOIR space telescope mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics & ultra-high contrast exoplanet imaging. AMTD achieving all its goals & accomplishing all its milestones.

Instabilities excited by an energetic ion beam and electron temperature anisotropy in tandem mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Da Jornada, E. H.; Gaffey, J. D., Jr.; Winske, D.

1985-01-01

Tandem mirrors are magnetic confinement devices, which have the objective to prevent a leaking out of ions in a central (solenoidal) cell at the end. This is accomplished by making use of an electrostatic potential, which is maintained by a denser plasma in mirror end cells. In the Tandem Mirror Experiment (TMX), Correll et al. (1982) have successfully verified the basic concepts involved in the design of the considered device. However, it was also found that the simple tandem mirror could not be easily scaled to a reactor-size device. Approaches for solving the arising problems were studied, taking into account also the utilization of a thermal barrier. In this connection, Winske et al. (1985) studied the nonlinear development of the instability in a finite beta plasma with isotropic electrons. The present investigation is concerned with an extension of the calculations conducted by Winske et al., giving attention to the parameter regime of the TMX. It is found that three instabilities can occur.

A Fourier Transform Spectrometer Based on an Electrothermal MEMS Mirror with Improved Linear Scan Range

PubMed Central

Wang, Wei; Chen, Jiapin; Zivkovic, Aleksandar. S.; Xie, Huikai

2016-01-01

A Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) that incorporates a closed-loop controlled, electrothermally actuated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) micromirror is proposed and experimentally verified. The scan range and the tilting angle of the mirror plate are the two critical parameters for MEMS-based FTS. In this work, the MEMS mirror with a footprint of 4.3 mm × 3.1 mm is based on a modified lateral-shift-free (LSF) bimorph actuator design with large piston and reduced tilting. Combined with a position-sensitive device (PSD) for tilt angle sensing, the feedback controlled MEMS mirror generates a 430 µm stable linear piston scan with the mirror plate tilting angle less than ±0.002°. The usable piston scan range is increased to 78% of the MEMS mirror’s full scan capability, and a spectral resolution of 0.55 nm at 531.9 nm wavelength, has been achieved. It is a significant improvement compared to the prior work. PMID:27690047

Back-support large laser mirror unit: mounting modeling and analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hui; Zhang, Zheng; Long, Kai; Liu, Tianye; Li, Jun; Liu, Changchun; Xiong, Zhao; Yuan, Xiaodong

2018-01-01

In high-power laser system, the surface wavefront of large optics has a close link with its structure design and mounting method. The back-support transport mirror design is presently being investigated as a means in China's high-power laser system to hold the optical component firmly while minimizing the distortion of its reflecting surface. We have proposed a comprehensive analytical framework integrated numerical modeling and precise metrology for the mirror's mounting performance evaluation while treating the surface distortion as a key decision variable. The combination of numerical simulation and field tests demonstrates that the comprehensive analytical framework provides a detailed and accurate approach to evaluate the performance of the transport mirror. It is also verified that the back-support transport mirror is effectively compatible with state-of-the-art optical quality specifications. This study will pave the way for future research to solidify the design of back-support large laser optics in China's next generation inertial confinement fusion facility.

The Development of Stacked Core for the Fabrication of Deep Lightweight UV-Quality Space Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Gary W.; Egerman, Robert; Maffett, Steven P.; Stahl, H. Philip; Eng, Ron; Effinger, Michael R.

2014-01-01

The 2010 Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. Under Science and Technology funding, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Exelis have developed a more cost effective process to make 4m class or larger monolithic spaceflight UV quality, low areal density, thermally and dynamically stable primary mirrors. A proof of concept 0.43m mirror was completed at Exelis optically tested at 250K at MSFC which demonstrated the ability for imaging out to 2.5 microns. The parameters and test results of this concept mirror are shown. The next phase of the program includes a 1.5m subscale mirror that will be optically and dynamically tested. The scale-up process will be discussed and the technology development path to a 4m mirror system by 2018 will be outlined.

The micro-mirror technology applied to astronomy: ANIS adaptive-slit near Infrared spectrograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burgarella, Denis; Buat, Veronique; Bely, Pierre; Grange, Robert

2018-04-01

This paper, "The micro-mirror technology applied to astronomy: ANIS adaptive-slit near Infrared spectrograph," was presented as part of International Conference on Space Optics—ICSO 1997, held in Toulouse, France.

Diffuse characteristics study of laser target board using Monte Carlo simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Pengling; Wu, Yong; Wang, Zhenbao; Tao, Mengmeng; Wu, Junjie; Wang, Ping; Yan, Yan; Zhang, Lei; Feng, Gang; Zhu, Jinghui; Feng, Guobin

2013-05-01

In this paper, Torrance-Sparrow and Oren-Nayar model is adopt to study diffuse characteristics of laser target board. The model which based on geometric optics, assumes that rough surfaces are made up of a series of symmetric V-groove cavities with different slopes at microscopic level. The distribution of the slopes of the V-grooves are modeled as beckman distribution function, and every microfacet of the V-groove cavity is assumed to behave like a perfect mirror, which means the reflected ray follows Fresnel law at the microfacet. The masking and shadowing effects of rough surface are also taken into account through geometric attenuation factor. Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the diffuse reflectance distribution of the laser target board with different materials and processing technology, and all the calculated results are verified by experiment. It is shown that the profile of bidirectional reflectance distribution curve is lobe-shaped with the maximum lies along the mirror reflection direction. The width of the profile is narrower for a lower roughness value, and broader for a higher roughness value. The refractive index of target material will also influence the intensity and distribution of diffuse reflectance of laser target surface.

A High-Speed Large-Range Tip-Tilt-Piston Micromirror Array

DOE PAGES

Hopkins, Jonathan B.; Panas, Robert M.; Song, Yuanping; ...

2016-12-01

This work introduces the design of a high fill-factor (>99%) micromirror array (MMA) that consists of 1mm2 hexagonal mirrors, which are expected to each independently achieve continuous, closed-loop control of three degrees of freedom (DOFs)—tip, tilt, and piston—over large ranges (>±10o rotation and >±30μm translation) at high speeds (~45kHz for a 1o amplitude of rotational oscillation). The flexure topology of this array is designed using the Freedom, Actuation, and Constraint Topologies (FACT) synthesis approach, which utilizes geometric shapes to help designers rapidly consider every flexure topology that best achieves a desired set of DOFs driven by decoupled actuators. The geometrymore » of this array’s comb-drive actuators are optimized in conjunction with the geometry of the system’s flexures using a novel approach. The analytical models underlying this approach are verified using finite element analysis (FEA) and validated using experimental data. The capabilities of this new mirror array will enable, or significantly improve, the performance of a variety of high-impact optical technologies such as advanced optical switches, spatial-light modulators, displays, and laser steering or scanning devices.« less

A High-Speed Large-Range Tip-Tilt-Piston Micromirror Array

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hopkins, Jonathan B.; Panas, Robert M.; Song, Yuanping

This work introduces the design of a high fill-factor (>99%) micromirror array (MMA) that consists of 1mm2 hexagonal mirrors, which are expected to each independently achieve continuous, closed-loop control of three degrees of freedom (DOFs)—tip, tilt, and piston—over large ranges (>±10o rotation and >±30μm translation) at high speeds (~45kHz for a 1o amplitude of rotational oscillation). The flexure topology of this array is designed using the Freedom, Actuation, and Constraint Topologies (FACT) synthesis approach, which utilizes geometric shapes to help designers rapidly consider every flexure topology that best achieves a desired set of DOFs driven by decoupled actuators. The geometrymore » of this array’s comb-drive actuators are optimized in conjunction with the geometry of the system’s flexures using a novel approach. The analytical models underlying this approach are verified using finite element analysis (FEA) and validated using experimental data. The capabilities of this new mirror array will enable, or significantly improve, the performance of a variety of high-impact optical technologies such as advanced optical switches, spatial-light modulators, displays, and laser steering or scanning devices.« less

Development of Critical Technologies for the COSMO/SkyMed Hyperspectral Camera

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-10-01

Carbide (SiC) material (SiC or lightweighted Zerodur mirrors , carbon fiber technology. structures). - development of electronics blocks at high - High...investigation was Kcarried out to get the highest lightening factors on the Zerodur mirror substrates. Several samples of the TMA Fig. 5 - Prototypes of...implementation of state-of-the-art - manufacturing of very light mirrors with special manufacturing techniques for light components emphasis on Silicon

ICESat-2 ATLAS Beam Steering Mechanism (BSM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinkle, Matthew

2015-01-01

This work covers the design and test of a beam steering mechanism (BSM) used to accurately guide a laser on the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) down to Earth in order to measure elevation. It describes the main components in the BSM that allows it to perform and meet stringent requirements. Requirements of the BSM include two-axis steering of the transmitted laser beam, +-5000 uRad mechanical motion in each axis, and 1.5 uRad RMS pointing stability among many other requirements. The BSM uses four voice coil actuators in order to locate the mirror at the angle we need. There are four Differential Position Sensors that determine the position and angle of the mirror at all times. These sensors were verified through optical testing in both ambient and thermal conditions. Testing and extensive analyses were performed on the two-axis flexure throughout the program to check flexure thickness, positive margins, and infinite life. The mirror mount design has been modified to eliminate radial preload, while incorporating a titanium wave spring to provide an axial preload of 10.8N. The BSM underwent multiple tests in order to verify all components work as required under various conditions.

High-Resolution and Lightweight X-ray Optics for the X-Ray Surveyor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, William

Envisioned in "Enduring Quest, Daring Visions" and under study by NASA as a potential major mission for the 2020s, the X-ray Surveyor mission will likely impose three requirements on its optics: (1) high angular resolution: 0.5 PSF, (2) large effective area: e10,000 cm2 or more, and (3) affordable production cost: $500M. We propose a technology that can meet these requirements by 2020. It will help the X-ray Surveyor secure the endorsement of the coming decadal survey and enable its implementation following WFIRST. The technology comprises four elements: (1) fabrication of lightweight single crystal silicon mirrors, (2) coating these mirrors with iridium to maximize effective area without figure degradation, (3) alignment and bonding of these mirrors to form meta-shells that will be integrated to make a mirror assembly, and (4) systems engineering to ensure that the mirror assembly meet all science performance and spaceflight environmental requirements. This approach grows out of our existing approach based on glass slumping. Using glass slumping technology, we have been able to routinely build and test mirror modules of 10half-power diameter (HPD). While comparable in HPD to XMM-Newtons electroformed nickel mirrors, these mirror modules are 10 times lighter. Likewise, while comparable in weight to Suzakus epoxy-replicated aluminum foil mirrors, these modules have 10 times better HPD. These modules represent the current state of the art of lightweight X-ray optics. Although both successful and mature, the glass slumping technology has reached its limit and cannot achieve sub-arc second HPD. Therefore, we are pursuing the new approach based on polishing single crystal silicon. The new approach will enable the building and testing of mirror modules, called meta-shells, capable of 3HPD by 2018 and 1HPD by 2020, and has the potential to reach diffraction limits ( 0.1) in the 2020s.

Primary mirror and mount technology for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Melugin, Ramsey K.; Chang, L. S.; Mansfield, J. A.; Howard, Steven D.

1989-01-01

Candidate technologies for a lightweight primary mirror for the SOFIA telescope are evaluated for both mirror blank fabrication and polishing. Two leading candidates for the type mirror blank are considered: the frit-bonded, structured form, and the thin meniscus form. The feasible mirror is required to be very lightweight with an areal density of approximately 100 kg/sq m, have an f/ratio near 1.0, and have surface quality that permits imaging in the visible as well as the infrared. Also considered are the results of a study conducted to assess the feasibility of designing a suitable mounting system for the primary mirror. The requirements for the mount design are given both in terms of the environmental conditions and the expected optical performance. PATRAN and NASTRAN programs are used to model mirror and mounting. The sandwich-type mirror made of ultra low expansion silica with square cells in the core, is modeled using equivalent solid elements for the core. The design study produces primary mirror surface deflections in 1g as a function of mirror elevation angles. The surface is analyzed using an optical analysis program, FRINGE, to give a prediction of the mirror optical performance. Results from this analysis are included.

Overview and Summary of Advanced UVOIR Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2014-01-01

ASTRO2010 Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. AMTD is a multiyear effort to develop, demonstrate and mature critical technologies to TRL-6 by 2018 so that a viable flight mission can be proposed to the 2020 Decadal Review. AMTD builds on the state of art (SOA) defined by over 30 years of monolithic & segmented ground & space-telescope mirror technology to mature six key technologies: center dotLarge-Aperture, Low Areal Density, High Stiffness Mirror Substrates: Both (4 to 8 m) monolithic and (8 to 16 m) segmented telescopes require larger and stiffer mirrors. center dotSupport System: Large-aperture mirrors require large support systems to ensure that they survive launch, deploy on orbit, and maintain a stable, undistorted shape. center dotMid/High Spatial Frequency Figure Error: Very smooth mirror is critical for producing high-quality point spread function (PSF) for high contrast imaging. center dotSegment Edges: The quality of segment edges impacts PSF for high-contrast imaging applications, contributes to stray light noise, and affects total collecting aperture. center dotSegment to Segment Gap Phasing: Segment phasing is critical for producing high-quality temporally-stable PSF. center dotIntegrated Model Validation: On-orbit performance is driven by mechanical & thermal stability. Compliance cannot be 100% tested, but relies on modeling. Because we cannot predict the future, AMTD is pursuing multiple design paths to provide the science community with options to enable either large aperture monolithic or segmented mirrors with clear engineering metrics traceable to science requirements

Advanced UVOIR Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Postman, Marc; Soummer, Remi; Sivramakrishnan, Annand; Macintosh, Bruce; Guyon, Olivier; Krist, John; Stahl, H. Philip; Smith, W. Scott; Mosier, Gary; Kirk, Charles;

A tandem mirror plasma source for hybrid plume plasma studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, T. F.; Chang, F. R.; Miller, R. H.; Wenzel, K. W.; Krueger, W. A.

1985-01-01

A tandem mirror device to be considered as a hot plasma source for the hybrid plume rocket concept is discussed. The hot plamsa from this device is injected into an exhaust duct, which will interact with an annular hypersonic layer of neutral gas. The device can be used to study the dynamics of the hybrid plume, and to verify the numerical predictions obtained with computer codes. The basic system design is also geared towards low weight and compactness, and high power density at the exhaust. The basic structure of the device consists of four major subsystems: (1) an electric power supply; (2) a low temperature, high density plasma gun, such as a stream gun, an MPD source or gas cell; (3) a power booster in the form of a tandem mirror machine; and (4) an exhaust nozzle arrangement. The configuration of the tandem mirror section is shown.

High Precision Metrology on the Ultra-Lightweight W 50.8 cm f/1.25 Parabolic SHARPI Primary Mirror using a CGH Null Lens

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antonille, Scott

2004-01-01

For potential use on the SHARPI mission, Eastman Kodak has delivered a 50.8cm CA f/1.25 ultra-lightweight UV parabolic mirror with a surface figure error requirement of 6nm RMS. We address the challenges involved in verifying and mapping the surface error of this large lightweight mirror to +/-3nm using a diffractive CGH null lens. Of main concern is removal of large systematic errors resulting from surface deflections of the mirror due to gravity as well as smaller contributions from system misalignment and reference optic errors. We present our efforts to characterize these errors and remove their wavefront error contribution in post-processing as well as minimizing the uncertainty these calculations introduce. Data from Kodak and preliminary measurements from NASA Goddard will be included.

Recent Progress in Adjustable X-ray Optics for Astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reid, Paul B.; Allured, Ryan; Cotroneo, Vincenzo; McMuldroch, Stuart; Marquez, Vanessa; Schwartz, Daniel A.; Vikhlinin, Alexey; ODell, Stephen L.; Ramsey, Brian; Trolier-McKinstry, Susan;

Correcting the wavefront aberration of membrane mirror based on liquid crystal spatial light modulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Bin; Wei, Yin; Chen, Xinhua; Tang, Minxue

2014-11-01

Membrane mirror with flexible polymer film substrate is a new-concept ultra lightweight mirror for space applications. Compared with traditional mirrors, membrane mirror has the advantages of lightweight, folding and deployable, low cost and etc. Due to the surface shape of flexible membrane mirror is easy to deviate from the design surface shape, it will bring wavefront aberration to the optical system. In order to solve this problem, a method of membrane mirror wavefront aberration correction based on the liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LCSLM) will be studied in this paper. The wavefront aberration correction principle of LCSLM is described and the phase modulation property of a LCSLM is measured and analyzed firstly. Then the membrane mirror wavefront aberration correction system is designed and established according to the optical properties of a membrane mirror. The LCSLM and a Hartmann-Shack sensor are used as a wavefront corrector and a wavefront detector, respectively. The detected wavefront aberration is calculated and converted into voltage value on LCSLM for the mirror wavefront aberration correction by programming in Matlab. When in experiment, the wavefront aberration of a glass plane mirror with a diameter of 70 mm is measured and corrected for verifying the feasibility of the experiment system and the correctness of the program. The PV value and RMS value of distorted wavefront are reduced and near diffraction limited optical performance is achieved. On this basis, the wavefront aberration of the aperture center Φ25 mm in a membrane mirror with a diameter of 200 mm is corrected and the errors are analyzed. It provides a means of correcting the wavefront aberration of membrane mirror.

Deformable mirror technologies at AOA Xinetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wirth, Allan; Cavaco, Jeffrey; Bruno, Theresa; Ezzo, Kevin M.

2013-05-01

AOA Xinetics (AOX) has been at the forefront of Deformable Mirror (DM) technology development for over two decades. In this paper the current state of that technology is reviewed and the particular strengths and weaknesses of the various DM architectures are presented. Emphasis is placed on the requirements for DMs applied to the correction of high-energy and high average power lasers. Mirror designs optimized for the correction of typical thermal lensing effects in diode pumped solid-state lasers will be detailed and their capabilities summarized. Passive thermal management techniques that allow long laser run times to be supported will also be discussed.

Overview and Summary of the Advanced Mirror Technology Development Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. P.

2014-01-01

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) is a NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology project to mature to TRL-6 the critical technologies needed to produce 4-m or larger flight-qualified UVOIR mirrors by 2018 so that a viable mission can be considered by the 2020 Decadal Review. The developed mirror technology must enable missions capable of both general astrophysics & ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. Just as JWST’s architecture was driven by launch vehicle, a future UVOIR mission’s architectures (monolithic, segmented or interferometric) will depend on capacities of future launch vehicles (and budget). Since we cannot predict the future, we must prepare for all potential futures. Therefore, to provide the science community with options, we are pursuing multiple technology paths. AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach. We derived engineering specifications for potential future monolithic or segmented space telescopes based on science needs and implement constraints. And we are maturing six inter-linked critical technologies to enable potential future large aperture UVOIR space telescope: 1) Large-Aperture, Low Areal Density, High Stiffness Mirrors, 2) Support Systems, 3) Mid/High Spatial Frequency Figure Error, 4) Segment Edges, 5) Segment-to-Segment Gap Phasing, and 6) Integrated Model Validation Science Advisory Team and a Systems Engineering Team. We are maturing all six technologies simultaneously because all are required to make a primary mirror assembly (PMA); and, it is the PMA’s on-orbit performance which determines science return. PMA stiffness depends on substrate and support stiffness. Ability to cost-effectively eliminate mid/high spatial figure errors and polishing edges depends on substrate stiffness. On-orbit thermal and mechanical performance depends on substrate stiffness, the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and thermal mass. And, segment-to-segment phasing depends on substrate & structure stiffness. This presentation will introduce the goals and objectives of the AMTD project and summarize its recent accomplishments.

A high fusion power gain tandem mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fowler, T. K.; Moir, R. W.; Simonen, T. C.

2017-10-01

Utilizing advances in high field superconducting magnet technology and microwave gyrotrons we illustrate the possibility of a high power gain (Q = 10-20) tandem mirror fusion reactor. Inspired by recent Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) achievements we employ a simple axisymmetric mirror magnet configuration. We consider both DT and cat. DD fuel options that utilize existing as well as future technology development. We identify subjects requiring further study such as hot electron physics, trapped particle modes and plasma startup.

A technology demonstrator for development of ultra-lightweight, large aperture, deployable telescope for space applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuccaro Marchi, Alessandro; Gambicorti, Lisa; Simonetti, Francesca; Salinari, Piero; Lisi, Franco; Bursi, Alessandro; Olivier, Massimiliano; Gallieni, Daniele

2017-11-01

This work presents the latest results of new technological concepts for large aperture, lightweight telescopes using thin deployable active mirrors. The study is originally addressed to a spaceborne DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) at 935.5 nm for the measurement of water vapour profile in atmosphere, as an output of an ESA contract (whose preliminary results were presented at ICSO 2006). The high versatility of these concepts allows to exploit the presented technology for any project willing to consider large aperture, segmented lightweight telescopes. A possible scientific application is for Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays detection through the fluorescence traces in atmosphere and diffused Cerenkov signals observation via a Schmidt-like spaceborne LEO telescope with large aperture, wide Field of View (FOV) and low f/#. A technology demonstrator has been manufactured and tested in order to investigate two project critical areas identified during the preliminary design: the performances of the long-stroke actuators used to implement the mirror active control and the mirror survivability to launch. In particular, this breadboard demonstrates at first that the mirror actuators are able to control with the adequate accuracy the surface shape and to recover a deployment error with their long stroke; secondly, the mirror survivability has been demonstrated using an electrostatic locking between mirror and backplane able to withstand without failure a vibration test representative of the launch environment.

Aluminum Mirror Coatings for UVOIR Telescope Optics Including the Far UV

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balasubramanian, Kunjithapatha; Hennessy, John; Raouf, Nasrat; Nikzad, Shouleh; Ayala, Michael; Shaklan, Stuart; Scowen, Paul; Del Hoyo, Javier; Quijada, Manuel

2015-01-01

NASA Cosmic Origins (COR) Program identified the development of high reflectivity mirror coatings for large astronomical telescopes particularly for the far ultra violet (FUV) part of the spectrum as a key technology requiring significant materials research and process development. In this paper we describe the challenges and accomplishments in producing stable high reflectance aluminum mirror coatings with conventional evaporation and advanced Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) techniques. We present the current status of process development with reflectance of approx. 55 to 80% in the FUV achieved with little or no degradation over a year. Keywords: Large telescope optics, Aluminum mirror, far UV astrophysics, ALD, coating technology development.

Science requirements and optimization of the silicon pore optics design for the Athena mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willingale, R.; Pareschi, G.; Christensen, F.; den Herder, J.-W.; Ferreira, D.; Jakobsen, A.; Ackermann, M.; Collon, M.; Bavdaz, M.

2014-07-01

The science requirements for the Athena X-ray mirror are to provide a collecting area of 2 m2 at 1 keV, an angular resolution of ~5 arc seconds half energy eidth (HEW) and a field of view of diameter 40-50 arc minutes. This combination of area and angular resolution over a wide field are possible because of unique features of the Silicon pore optics (SPO) technology used. Here we describe the optimization and modifications of the SPO technology required to achieve the Athena mirror specification and demonstrate how the optical design of the mirror system impacts on the scientific performance of Athena.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s advanced system testing utilizing a data acquisition system on the highways (FAST DASH) safety technology evaluation project #3 : novel convex mirrors.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-11-01

An independent evaluation of a set of novel prototype mirrors was conducted to determine whether the mirrors perform as well as traditional production mirrors across the basic functions of field of view (FOV), image distortion, and distance estimatio...

Electro-Formed Mirrors for Both X-Ray and Visible Astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ritter, J.; Smith, W. Scott; Rose, M. Frank (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is involved in the development of nickel and nickel alloy electroformed mirrors for rapid production of space-based optical systems. The current state of the process is discussed- for both cylindrical x-ray mirrors and normal incidence mirrors for visible and infrared applications.

[Near infrared spectroscopy system structure with MOEMS scanning mirror array].

PubMed

Luo, Biao; Wen, Zhi-Yu; Wen, Zhong-Quan; Chen, Li; Qian, Rong-Rong

2011-11-01

A method which uses MOEMS mirror array optical structure to reduce the high cost of infrared spectrometer is given in the present paper. This method resolved the problem that MOEMS mirror array can not be used in simple infrared spectrometer because the problem of imaging irregularity in infrared spectroscopy and a new structure for spectral imaging was designed. According to the requirements of imaging spot, this method used optical design software ZEMAX and standard-specific aberrations of the optimization algorithm, designed and optimized the optical structure. It works from 900 to 1 400 nm. The results of design analysis showed that with the light source slit width of 50 microm, the spectrophotometric system is superior to the theoretical resolution of 6 nm, and the size of the available spot is 0.042 mm x 0.08 mm. Verification examples show that the design meets the requirements of the imaging regularity, and can be used for MOEMS mirror reflectance scan. And it was also verified that the use of a new MOEMS mirror array spectrometer model is feasible. Finally, analyze the relationship between the location of the detector and the maximum deflection angle of micro-mirror was analyzed.

Comparing 3-dimensional virtual methods for reconstruction in craniomaxillofacial surgery.

PubMed

Benazzi, Stefano; Senck, Sascha

2011-04-01

In the present project, the virtual reconstruction of digital osteomized zygomatic bones was simulated using different methods. A total of 15 skulls were scanned using computed tomography, and a virtual osteotomy of the left zygomatic bone was performed. Next, virtual reconstructions of the missing part using mirror imaging (with and without best fit registration) and thin plate spline interpolation functions were compared with the original left zygomatic bone. In general, reconstructions using thin plate spline warping showed better results than the mirroring approaches. Nevertheless, when dealing with skulls characterized by a low degree of asymmetry, mirror imaging and subsequent registration can be considered a valid and easy solution for zygomatic bone reconstruction. The mirroring tool is one of the possible alternatives in reconstruction, but it might not always be the optimal solution (ie, when the hemifaces are asymmetrical). In the present pilot study, we have verified that best fit registration of the mirrored unaffected hemiface and thin plate spline warping achieved better results in terms of fitting accuracy, overcoming the evident limits of the mirroring approach. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Low-weight, low-cost, low-cycle time, replicated glass mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Egerman, Robert; De Smitt, Steven; Strafford, David

2010-07-01

ITT has patented and continues to develop processes to fabricate low-cost borosilicate mirrors that can be used for both ground and space-based optical telescopes. Borosilicate glass is a commodity and is the material of choice for today's flat-panel televisions and monitors. Supply and demand has kept its cost low compared to mirror substrate materials typically found in telescopes. The current technology development is on the path to having the ability to deliver imaging quality optics of up to 1m (scalable to 2m) in diameter in three weeks. For those applications that can accommodate the material properties of borosilicate glasses, this technology has the potential to revolutionize ground and space-based astronomy. ITT Corporation has demonstrated finishing a planar, 0.6m borosilicate, optic to <100 nm-rms. This paper will provide an historical overview of the development in this area with an emphasis on recent technology developments to fabricate a 0.6m parabolic mirror under NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) grant #NNX09AD61G.

Monocrystalline silicon and the meta-shell approach to building x-ray astronomical optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, William W.; Allgood, Kim D.; Biskach, Michael P.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Hlinka, Michal; Kearney, John D.; Mazzarella, James R.; McClelland, Ryan S.; Numata, Ai; Olsen, Lawrence G.; Riveros, Raul E.; Saha, Timo T.; Solly, Peter M.

2017-08-01

Angular resolution and photon-collecting area are the two most important factors that determine the power of an X-ray astronomical telescope. The grazing incidence nature of X-ray optics means that even a modest photon-collecting area requires an extraordinarily large mirror area. This requirement for a large mirror area is compounded by the fact that X-ray telescopes must be launched into, and operated in, outer space, which means that the mirror must be both lightweight and thin. Meanwhile the production and integration cost of a large mirror area determines the economical feasibility of a telescope. In this paper we report on a technology development program whose objective is to meet this three-fold requirement of making astronomical X-ray optics: (1) angular resolution, (2) photon-collecting area, and (3) production cost. This technology is based on precision polishing of monocrystalline silicon for making a large number of mirror segments and on the metashell approach to integrate these mirror segments into a mirror assembly. The meta-shell approach takes advantage of the axial or rotational symmetry of an X-ray telescope to align and bond a large number of small, lightweight mirrors into a large mirror assembly. The most important features of this technology include: (1) potential to achieve the highest possible angular resolution dictated by optical design and diffraction; and (2) capable of implementing every conceivable optical design, such as Wolter-I, WolterSchwarzschild, as well as other variations to one or another aspect of a telescope. The simplicity and modular nature of the process makes it highly amenable to mass production, thereby making it possible to produce very large X-ray telescopes in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable cost. As of June 2017, the basic validity of this approach has been demonstrated by finite element analysis of its structural, thermal, and gravity release characteristics, and by the fabrication, alignment, bonding, and X-ray testing of mirror modules. Continued work in the coming years will raise the technical readiness of this technology for use by SMEX, MIDEX, Probe, as well as major flagship missions.

Monocrystalline Silicon and the Meta-Shell Approach to Building X-Ray Astronomical Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, William W.; Allgood, Kim D.; Biskach, Michael P.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Hlinka, Michal; Kearney, John D.; Mazzarella, James R.; McClelland, Ryan S.; Numata, Ai; Olsen, Lawrence G.;

Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-09

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft.

Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2009-08-21

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft.

Algorithm for ion beam figuring of low-gradient mirrors.

PubMed

Jiao, Changjun; Li, Shengyi; Xie, Xuhui

2009-07-20

Ion beam figuring technology for low-gradient mirrors is discussed. Ion beam figuring is a noncontact machining technique in which a beam of high-energy ions is directed toward a target workpiece to remove material in a predetermined and controlled fashion. Owing to this noncontact mode of material removal, problems associated with tool wear and edge effects, which are common in conventional contact polishing processes, are avoided. Based on the Bayesian principle, an iterative dwell time algorithm for planar mirrors is deduced from the computer-controlled optical surfacing (CCOS) principle. With the properties of the removal function, the shaping process of low-gradient mirrors can be approximated by the linear model for planar mirrors. With these discussions, the error surface figuring technology for low-gradient mirrors with a linear path is set up. With the near-Gaussian property of the removal function, the figuring process with a spiral path can be described by the conventional linear CCOS principle, and a Bayesian-based iterative algorithm can be used to deconvolute the dwell time. Moreover, the selection criterion of the spiral parameter is given. Ion beam figuring technology with a spiral scan path based on these methods can be used to figure mirrors with non-axis-symmetrical errors. Experiments on SiC chemical vapor deposition planar and Zerodur paraboloid samples are made, and the final surface errors are all below 1/100 lambda.

Overview and Recent Accomplishments of the Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) for Large Aperture UVOIR Space Telescopes Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2013-01-01

Per Astro2010, a new, larger UVO telescope is needed to answer fundamental scientific questions, such as: is there life on Earth-like exoplanets; how galaxies assemble stellar populations; how baryonic matter interacts with intergalactic medium; and how solar systems form and evolve. And, present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVO concept. Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) is a funded SAT project. Our objective is to mature to TRL-6 the critical technologies needed to produce 4-m or larger flight-qualified UVOIR mirrors by 2018 so that a viable mission can be considered by the 2020 Decadal Review. AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND result in a high-performance low-cost low-risk system. To provide the science community with options, we are pursuing multiple technology paths. We have assembled an outstanding team from academia, industry, and government with extensive expertise in astrophysics and exoplanet characterization, and in the design/manufacture of monolithic and segmented space telescopes. One of our key accomplishments is that we have derived engineering specifications for advanced normal-incidence monolithic and segmented mirror systems needed to enable both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets missions as a function of potential launch vehicle and its inherent mass and volume constraints. We defined and initiated a program to mature 6 key technologies required to fabricate monolithic and segmented space mirrors.

Affordable and Lightweight High-Resolution X-ray Optics for Astronomical Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, W. W.; Biskach, M. P.; Bly, V. T.; Carter, J. M.; Chan, K. W.; Gaskin, J. A.; Hong, M.; Hohl, B. R.; Jones, W. D.; Kolodziejczak, J. J.

2014-01-01

Future x-ray astronomical missions require x-ray mirror assemblies that provide both high angular resolution and large photon collecting area. In addition, as x-ray astronomy undertakes more sensitive sky surveys, a large field of view is becoming increasingly important as well. Since implementation of these requirements must be carried out in broad political and economical contexts, any technology that meets these performance requirements must also be financially affordable and can be implemented on a reasonable schedule. In this paper we report on progress of an x-ray optics development program that has been designed to address all of these requirements. The program adopts the segmented optical design, thereby is capable of making both small and large mirror assemblies for missions of any size. This program has five technical elements: (1) fabrication of mirror substrates, (2) coating, (3) alignment, (4) bonding, and (5) mirror module systems engineering and testing. In the past year we have made progress in each of these five areas, advancing the angular resolution of mirror modules from 10.8 arc-seconds half-power diameter reported (HPD) a year ago to 8.3 arc-seconds now. These mirror modules have been subjected to and passed all environmental tests, including vibration, acoustic, and thermal vacuum. As such this technology is ready for implementing a mission that requires a 10-arc-second mirror assembly. Further development in the next two years would make it ready for a mission requiring a 5-arc-second mirror assembly. We expect that, by the end of this decade, this technology would enable the x-ray astrophysical community to compete effectively for a major x-ray mission in the 2020s that would require one or more 1-arc-second mirror assemblies for imaging, spectroscopic, timing, and survey studies.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-21

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery, and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. The process allows fabricating precisely shaped mandrels to be used and reused as masters for replicating high-quality mirrors. Dr. Joe Ritter examines a replicated electro-formed nickel-alloy mirror which exemplifies the improvements in mirror fabrication techniques, with benefits such as dramtic weight reduction that have been achieved at the Marshall Space Flight Center's Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center (SOMTC).

Secrets of the Chinese magic mirror replica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mak, Se-yuen; Yip, Din-yan

2001-03-01

We examine the structure of five Chinese magic mirror replicas using a special imaging technique developed by the authors. All mirrors are found to have a two-layered structure. The reflecting surface that gives rise to a projected magic pattern on the screen is hidden under a polished half-reflecting top layer. An alternative method of making the magic mirror using ancient technology has been proposed. Finally, we suggest a simple method of reconstructing a mirror replica in the laboratory.

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Thermal Trade Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, Thomas; Stahl, Phil; Arnold, Bill

2015-01-01

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) is being done at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in preparation for the next Ultraviolet, Optical, Infrared (UVOIR) space observatory. A likely science mission of that observatory is the detection and characterization of 'Earth-like' exoplanets. Direct exoplanet observation requires a telescope to see a planet that is 10-10 times dimmer than its host star. To accomplish this using an internal coronagraph requires a telescope with an ultra-stable wavefront. This paper investigates two topics: 1) parametric relationships between a primary mirror's thermal parameters and wavefront stability, and 2) optimal temperature profiles in the telescope's shroud and heater plate that minimize static wavefront error (WFE) in the primary mirror.

Simultaneous correction of large low-order and high-order aberrations with a new deformable mirror technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rooms, F.; Camet, S.; Curis, J. F.

2010-02-01

A new technology of deformable mirror will be presented. Based on magnetic actuators, these deformable mirrors feature record strokes (more than +/- 45μm of astigmatism and focus correction) with an optimized temporal behavior. Furthermore, the development has been made in order to have a large density of actuators within a small clear aperture (typically 52 actuators within a diameter of 9.0mm). We will present the key benefits of this technology for vision science: simultaneous correction of low and high order aberrations, AO-SLO image without artifacts due to the membrane vibration, optimized control, etc. Using recent papers published by Doble, Thibos and Miller, we show the performances that can be achieved by various configurations using statistical approach. The typical distribution of wavefront aberrations (both the low order aberration (LOA) and high order aberration (HOA)) have been computed and the correction applied by the mirror. We compare two configurations of deformable mirrors (52 and 97 actuators) and highlight the influence of the number of actuators on the fitting error, the photon noise error and the effective bandwidth of correction.

Silicon pore optics for the international x-ray observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wille, E.; Wallace, K.; Bavdaz, M.; Collon, M. J.; Günther, R.; Ackermann, M.; Beijersbergen, M. W.; Riekerink, M. O.; Blom, M.; Lansdorp, B.; de Vreede, L.

2017-11-01

Lightweight X-ray Wolter optics with a high angular resolution will enable the next generation of X-ray telescopes in space. The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) requires a mirror assembly of 3 m2 effective area (at 1.5 keV) and an angular resolution of 5 arcsec. These specifications can only be achieved with a novel technology like Silicon Pore Optics, which is developed by ESA together with a consortium of European industry. Silicon Pore Optics are made of commercial Si wafers using process technology adapted from the semiconductor industry. We present the manufacturing process ranging from single mirror plates towards complete focusing mirror modules mounted in flight configuration. The performance of the mirror modules is tested using X-ray pencil beams or full X-ray illumination. In 2009, an angular resolution of 9 arcsec was achieved, demonstrating the improvement of the technology compared to 17 arcsec in 2007. Further development activities of Silicon Pore Optics concentrate on ruggedizing the mounting system and performing environmental tests, integrating baffles into the mirror modules and assessing the mass production.

Optical fabrication of lightweighted 3D printed mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herzog, Harrison; Segal, Jacob; Smith, Jeremy; Bates, Richard; Calis, Jacob; De La Torre, Alyssa; Kim, Dae Wook; Mici, Joni; Mireles, Jorge; Stubbs, David M.; Wicker, Ryan

2015-09-01

Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) and Electron Beam Melting (EBM) 3D printing technologies were utilized to create lightweight, optical grade mirrors out of AlSi10Mg aluminum and Ti6Al4V titanium alloys at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The mirror prototypes were polished to meet the λ/20 RMS and λ/4 P-V surface figure requirements. The intent of this project was to design topologically optimized mirrors that had a high specific stiffness and low surface displacement. Two models were designed using Altair Inspire software, and the mirrors had to endure the polishing process with the necessary stiffness to eliminate print-through. Mitigating porosity of the 3D printed mirror blanks was a challenge in the face of reconciling new printing technologies with traditional optical polishing methods. The prototypes underwent Hot Isostatic Press (HIP) and heat treatment to improve density, eliminate porosity, and relieve internal stresses. Metal 3D printing allows for nearly unlimited topological constraints on design and virtually eliminates the need for a machine shop when creating an optical quality mirror. This research can lead to an increase in mirror mounting support complexity in the manufacturing of lightweight mirrors and improve overall process efficiency. The project aspired to have many future applications of light weighted 3D printed mirrors, such as spaceflight. This paper covers the design/fab/polish/test of 3D printed mirrors, thermal/structural finite element analysis, and results.

Design, Construction, and Testing of Lightweight X-ray Mirror Modules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClelland, Ryan S.; Biskach, Michael P.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Espina, Rebecca A.; Hohl, Bruce R.; Matson, Elizabeth A.; Saha, Timo C.; Zhang, William W.

2013-01-01

Lightweight and high resolution optics are needed for future space-based X-ray telescopes to achieve advances in high-energy astrophysics. The Next Generation X-ray Optics (NGXO) team at NASA GSFC is nearing mission readiness for a 10 arc-second Half Power Diameter (HPD) slumped glass mirror technology while laying the groundwork for a future 1-2 arc-second technology based on polished silicon mirrors. Technology Development Modules (TDMs) have been designed, fabricated, integrated with mirrors segments, and extensively tested to demonstrate technology readiness. Tests include X-ray performance, thermal vacuum, acoustic load, and random vibration. The thermal vacuum and acoustic load environments have proven relatively benign, while the random vibration environment has proven challenging due to large input amplification at frequencies above 500 Hz. Epoxy selection, surface preparation, and larger bond area have increased bond strength while vibration isolation has decreased vibration amplification allowing for space launch requirements to be met in the near term. The next generation of TDMs, which demonstrates a lightweight structure supporting more mirror segments, is currently being fabricated. Analysis predicts superior performance characteristics due to the use of E-60 Beryllium-Oxide Metal Matrix Composite material, with only a modest cost increase. These TDMs will be larger, lighter, stiffer, and stronger than the current generation. Preliminary steps are being taken to enable mounting and testing of 1-2 arc-second mirror segments expected to be available in the future. A Vertical X-ray Test Facility (VXTF) will minimize module gravity distortion and allow for less constrained mirror mounts, such as fully kinematic mounts. Permanent kinematic mounting into a modified TDM has been demonstrated to achieve 2 arc-second level distortion free alignment.

Alignment and focus of mirrored facets of a heliosat

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yellowhair, Julius E; Ho, Clifford Kuofei; Diver, Richard B

2013-11-12

Various technologies pertaining to aligning and focusing mirrored facets of a heliostat are described herein. Updating alignment and/or focus of mirrored facets is undertaken through generation of a theoretical image, wherein the theoretical image is indicative of a reflection of the target via the mirrored facets when the mirrored facets are properly aligned. This theoretical image includes reference points that are overlaid on an image of the target as reflected by the mirrored facets of the heliostat. A technician adjusts alignment/focus of a mirrored facet by causing reflected reference markings to become aligned with the reference points in the theoreticalmore » image.« less

Selecting mirror materials for high-performance optical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parsonage, Thomas B.

1990-11-01

The properties of four candidate mirror materials--beryllium, silicon carbide, a silicon carbide/aluminum iretal-matrix carposite and aluminum--are corrpared. Because of its high specific stiffness and dirrensional stability under changing mschanical and thermal loads , beryllium is the best choice . Berjllium mirrors have been made irore cost-conpetitive by new processing technologies in which mirror blanks are isostatically pressed to near-net shape directly fran beiyllium pc1ers. Isostatic pressing also improves material properties and mskes it possible to develop mirror rraterials with superior properties.

Development of ATHENA mirror modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collon, Maximilien J.; Vacanti, Giuseppe; Barrière, Nicolas M.; Landgraf, Boris; Günther, Ramses; Vervest, Mark; van der Hoeven, Roy; Dekker, Danielle; Chatbi, Abdel; Girou, David; Sforzini, Jessica; Beijersbergen, Marco W.; Bavdaz, Marcos; Wille, Eric; Fransen, Sebastiaan; Shortt, Brian; Haneveld, Jeroen; Koelewijn, Arenda; Booysen, Karin; Wijnperle, Maurice; van Baren, Coen; Eigenraam, Alexander; Müller, Peter; Krumrey, Michael; Burwitz, Vadim; Pareschi, Giovanni; Massahi, Sonny; Christensen, Finn E.; Della Monica Ferreira, Desirée.; Valsecchi, Giuseppe; Oliver, Paul; Checquer, Ian; Ball, Kevin; Zuknik, Karl-Heinz

2017-08-01

Silicon Pore Optics (SPO), developed at cosine with the European Space Agency (ESA) and several academic and industrial partners, provides lightweight, yet stiff, high-resolution x-ray optics. This technology enables ATHENA to reach an unprecedentedly large effective area in the 0.2 - 12 keV band with an angular resolution better than 5''. After developing the technology for 50 m and 20 m focal length, this year has witnessed the first 12 m focal length mirror modules being produced. The technology development is also gaining momentum with three different radii under study: mirror modules for the inner radii (Rmin = 250 mm), outer radii (Rmax = 1500 mm) and middle radii (Rmid = 737 mm) are being developed in parallel.

A comparison of LIDT behavior of metal-dielectric mirrors in ns and ps pulse regime at 1030 nm with regard to the coating technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Škoda, Václav; Vanda, Jan; Uxa, Štěpán

2017-11-01

Several sets of mirror samples with multilayer system Ta2O5/SiO2 on silver metal layer were manufactured using either PVD or IAD coating technology. Both BK7 and fused silica substrates were used for preparation of samples. Laserinduced- damage-threshold (LIDT) of metal-dielectric mirrors was tested using a laser apparatus working at 1030 nm wavelength, in ns and ps pulse length domains in S-on-1 test mode. The measured damage threshold values at 45 deg angle of incidence and P-polarization were compared for different pulse length, substrate materials and coating technology.

NASA SBIR Subtopic S2.04 "Advanced Optical Components"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2009-01-01

The primary purpose of this subtopic is to develop and demonstrate technologies to manufacture ultra-low-cost precision optical systems for very large x-ray, UV/optical or infrared telescopes. Potential solutions include but are not limited to direct precision machining, rapid optical fabrication, slumping or replication technologies to manufacture 1 to 2 meter (or larger) precision quality mirror or lens segments (either normal incidence for uv/optical/infrared or grazing incidence for x-ray). An additional key enabling technology for UV/optical telescopes is a broadband (from 100 nm to 2500 nm) high-reflectivity mirror coating with extremely uniform amplitude and polarization properties which can be deposited on 1 to 3 meter class mirror.

Baffles design of the PROBA-V wide FOV TMA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzoli, A.; Holbrouck, P.; Houbrechts, Y.; Maresi, L.; Stockman, Y.; Taccola, M.; Versluys, J.

2017-11-01

Proba-V payload is a successor of the Vegetation instrument, a multispectral imager flown on Spot-4 and subsequently on Spot-5, French satellites for Earth Observation and defence. The instrument, with its wide field of view, is capable of covering a swath of 2200 km, which, in combination with a polar low Earth orbit, guarantees a daily revisit. The lifetime of Spot-5 expires in early 2013, and to ensure the continuity of vegetation data, BELSPO, the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, supported the development of an instrument that could be flown on a Proba type satellite, a small satellite developed by the Belgian QinetiQ Space (previously known as Verhaert Space). The challenge of this development is to produce an instrument responding to the same user requirements as Vegetation, but with an overall mass of about 30 kg, while the Vegetation instrument mass is 130 kg. This development had become feasible thanks to a number of new technologies that have been developed since the nineties, when Vegetation was first conceived, namely Single Point Diamond Turning fabrication of aspherical mirrors and efficient VNIR and SWIR detectors. The Proba-V payload is based on three identical reflective telescopes using highly aspherical mirrors in a TMA (Three Mirrors Anastigmat) configuration. Each telescope covers a field of view of 34° to reach the required swath. One of the challenges in the development of the PROBA-V instrument is the efficient reduction of stray light. Due to the mass and volume constraints it was not possible to implement a design with an intermediate focus to reduce the stray light. The analysis and minimization of the in-field stray light is an important element of the design because of the large FOV and the surface roughness currently achievable with the Single Point Diamond Turning. This document presents the preliminary baffle layout designed for the Three Mirrors Anastigmatic (TMA) telescope developed for the Proba-V mission. This baffling is used to avoid 1st order stray light i.e. direct stray light or through reflections on the mirrors. The stray light from the SWIR folding mirror is also studied. After these preliminary analyses the mechanical structure of the TMA is designed then verified in term of vignetting and stray light.

Slumping monitoring of glass and silicone foils for x-ray space telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mika, M.; Pina, L.; Landova, M.; Sveda, L.; Havlikova, R.; Semencova, V.; Hudec, R.; Inneman, A.

2011-09-01

We developed a non-contact method for in-situ monitoring of the thermal slumping of glass and silicone foils to optimize this technology for the production of high quality mirrors for large aperture x-ray space telescopes. The telescope's crucial part is a high throughput, heavily nested mirror array with the angular resolution better than 5 arcsec. Its construction requires precise and light-weight segmented optics with surface micro-roughness on the order of 0.1 nm. Promising materials are glass or silicon foils shaped by thermal forming. The desired parameters can be achieved only through optimizing the slumping process. We monitored the slumping by taking the snapshots of the shapes every five minutes at constant temperature and the final shapes we measured with the Taylor Hobson profilometer. The shapes were parabolic and the deviations from a circle had the peak-to-valley values of 20-30 μm. The observed hot plastic deformation of the foils was controlled by viscous flow. We calculated and plotted the relations between the middle part deflection, viscosity, and heat-treatment time. These relations have been utilized for the development of a numerical model enabling computer simulation. By the simulation, we verify the material's properties and generate new data for the thorough optimization of the slumping process.

Thermion: Verification of a thermionic heat pipe in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The design and development is examined of a small excore heat pipe thermionic space nuclear reactor power system (SEHPTR). The need was identified for an in-space flight demonstration of a solar powered, thermionic heat pipe element. A demonstration would examine its performance and verify its operation in microgravity. The design of a microsatellite based technology demonstration experiment is proposed to measure the effects of microgravity on the performance of an integrated thermionic heat pipe device in low earth orbit. The specific objectives are to verify the operation of the liquid metal heat pipe and the cesium reservior in the space environment. Two design configurations are described; THERMION-I and THERMION-II. THERMION-I is designed for a long lifetime study of the operations of the thermionic heat pipe element in low earth orbit. Heat input to the element is furnished by a large mirror which collects solar energy and focuses it into a cavity containing the heat pipe device. THERMION-II is a much simpler device which is used for short term operation. This experiment remains attached to the Delta II second stage and uses energy from 500 lb of alkaline batteries to supply heat energy to the heat pipe device.

Optical fiber end-facet polymer suspended-mirror devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Mian; Wu, Jushuai; Zhang, A. Ping; Tam, Hwa-Yaw; Wai, P. K. A.

2017-04-01

This paper presents a novel optical fiber device based on a polymer suspended mirror on the end facet of an optical fiber. With an own-developed optical 3D micro-printing technology, SU-8 suspended-mirror devices (SMDs) were successfully fabricated on the top of a standard single-mode optical fiber. Optical reflection spectra of the fabricated SU- 8 SMDs were measured and compared with theoretical analysis. The proposed technology paves a way towards 3D microengineering of the small end-facet of optical fibers to develop novel fiber-optic sensors.

Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-29

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft. More information at: http://windows.lbl.gov/materials/chromogenics/default.htm

Rapid Fabrication of Lightweight SiC Optics using Reactive Atom Plasma (RAP) Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fiske, Peter S.

2006-01-01

Reactive Atom Plasma (RAP) processing is a non-contact, plasma-based processing technology that can be used to generate damage-free optical surfaces. We have developed tools and processes using RAP that allow us to shape extremely lightweight mirror Surfaces made from extremely hard-to-machine materials (e.g. SiC). We will describe our latest results using RAP in combination with other technologies to produce finished lightweight SiC mirrors and also discuss applications for RAP in the rapid fabrication of mirror segments for reflective and grazing incidence telescopes.

Research Technology

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-09-16

A team of engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has designed, fabricated, and tested the first solar thermal engine, a non-chemical rocket that produces lower thrust but has better thrust efficiency than the chemical combustion engines. This segmented array of mirrors is the solar concentrator test stand at MSFC for firing the thermal propulsion engines. The 144 mirrors are combined to form an 18-foot diameter array concentrator. The mirror segments are aluminum hexagons that have the reflective surface cut into it by a diamond turning machine, which is developed by MSFC Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center.

Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2009-08-21

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft. More information at: http://windows.lbl.gov/materials/chromogenics/default.htm

Absolute Effective Area of the Chandra High-Resolution Mirror Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartz, D. A.; David, L. P.; Donnelly, R. H.; Edgar, R. J.; Gaetz, T. J.; Jerius, D.; Juda, M.; Kellogg, E. M.; McNamara, B. R.; Dewey, D.

2000-01-01

The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched in July 1999, and is returning exquisite sub-arcsecond x-ray images of star groups, supernova remnants, galaxies, quasars, and clusters of galaxies. In addition to being the premier X-ray observatory in terms of angular and spectral resolution, Chandra is the best calibrated X-ray facility ever flown. We discuss here the calibration of the effective area of the High Resolution Mirror Assembly. Because we do not know the absolute X-ray flux density of any celestial source, this must be based primarily on ground measurements and on modeling. In particular, we must remove the calibrated modeled responses of the detectors and gratings to obtain the mirror area. For celestial sources which may be assumed to have smoothly varying spectra, such as the Crab Nebula, we may verify the continuity of the area calibration as a function of energy. This is of significance in energy regions such as the Ir M-edges, or near the critical grazing angle cutoff of the various mirror shells.

Cophasing techniques for extremely large telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devaney, Nicholas; Schumacher, Achim

2004-07-01

The current designs of the majority of ELTs envisage that at least the primary mirror will be segmented. Phasing of the segments is therefore a major concern, and a lot of work is underway to determine the most suitable techniques. The techniques which have been developed are either wave optics generalizations of classical geometric optics tests (e.g. Shack-Hartmann and curvature sensing) or direct interferometric measurements. We present a review of the main techniques proposed for phasing and outline their relative merits. We consider problems which are specific to ELTs, e.g. vignetting of large parts of the primary mirror by the secondary mirror spiders, and the need to disentangle phase errors arising in different segmented mirrors. We present improvements in the Shack-Hartmann and curvature sensing techniques which allow greater precision and range. Finally, we describe a piston plate which simulates segment phasing errors and show the results of laboratory experiments carried out to verify the precision of the Shack-Hartmann technique.

Observation of laser beam profile progression inside an extended laser cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Frank F.; Farrell, Thomas C.

2013-03-01

This report presents the result of the laser beam profile progression in target-in-the-loop (TIL) system. This simulation experiment is to verify whether it is possible to form a tight hot spot similar to a single transversal mode in an extended laser cavity. Therefore, it is very important to observe the progression of the laser profile at a laser cavity mirror when a seeded high energy laser pulse is injected into the TIL system. The extended laser cavity is formed with a high reflectivity mirror on one end and an optical phase conjugated mirror as the second mirror, with potential disturbance media inside. The laser oscillation occurs only when it is triggered with a single frequency high energy laser pulse to overcome the threshold condition. With a laser cavity length of around 11 meters and a seeded laser pulse of 10 ns, we have been able to acquire and distinguish the laser beam profiles of each round-trip. Inserting a scattering media and other distortion elements can simulate atmospheric effects.

A design study of mirror modules and an assembly based on the slumped glass for an Athena-like optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basso, Stefano; Civitani, Marta; Pareschi, Giovanni; Buratti, Enrico; Eder, Josef; Friedrich, Peter; Fürmetz, Maria

2015-09-01

The Athena mission was selected for the second large-class mission, due for launch in 2028, in ESA's Cosmic Vision program. The current solution for the optics is based on the Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) technology with the goal of 2m2 effective area at 1keV (aperture about 3m diameter) with a focal length of 12m. The SPO advantages are the compactness along the axial direction and the high conductivity of the Silicon. Recent development in the fabrication of mirror shells based on the Slumped Glass Optics (SGO) makes this technology an attractive solution for the mirror modules for Athena or similar telescopes. The SGO advantages are a potential high collecting area with a limited vignetting due to the lower shadowing and the aptitude to curve the glass plates up to small radius of curvature. This study shows an alternative mirror design based on SGO technology, tailored for Athena needs. The main challenges are the optimization of the manufacturing technology with respect to the required accuracy and the thermal control of the large surface in conjunction with the low conductivity of the glass. A concept has been elaborated which considers the specific benefits of the SGO technology and provides an efficient thermal control. The output of the study is a preliminary design substantiated by analyses and technological studies. The study proposes interfaces and predicts performances and budgets. It describes also how such a mirror system could be implemented as a modular assembly for X-ray telescope with a large collecting area.

Computerised mirror therapy with Augmented Reflection Technology for early stroke rehabilitation: clinical feasibility and integration as an adjunct therapy.

PubMed

Hoermann, Simon; Ferreira Dos Santos, Luara; Morkisch, Nadine; Jettkowski, Katrin; Sillis, Moran; Devan, Hemakumar; Kanagasabai, Parimala S; Schmidt, Henning; Krüger, Jörg; Dohle, Christian; Regenbrecht, Holger; Hale, Leigh; Cutfield, Nicholas J

2017-07-01

New rehabilitation strategies for post-stroke upper limb rehabilitation employing visual stimulation show promising results, however, cost-efficient and clinically feasible ways to provide these interventions are still lacking. An integral step is to translate recent technological advances, such as in virtual and augmented reality, into therapeutic practice to improve outcomes for patients. This requires research on the adaptation of the technology for clinical use as well as on the appropriate guidelines and protocols for sustainable integration into therapeutic routines. Here, we present and evaluate a novel and affordable augmented reality system (Augmented Reflection Technology, ART) in combination with a validated mirror therapy protocol for upper limb rehabilitation after stroke. We evaluated components of the therapeutic intervention, from the patients' and the therapists' points of view in a clinical feasibility study at a rehabilitation centre. We also assessed the integration of ART as an adjunct therapy for the clinical rehabilitation of subacute patients at two different hospitals. The results showed that the combination and application of the Berlin Protocol for Mirror Therapy together with ART was feasible for clinical use. This combination was integrated into the therapeutic plan of subacute stroke patients at the two clinical locations where the second part of this research was conducted. Our findings pave the way for using technology to provide mirror therapy in clinical settings and show potential for the more effective use of inpatient time and enhanced recoveries for patients. Implications for Rehabilitation Computerised Mirror Therapy is feasible for clinical use Augmented Reflection Technology can be integrated as an adjunctive therapeutic intervention for subacute stroke patients in an inpatient setting Virtual Rehabilitation devices such as Augmented Reflection Technology have considerable potential to enhance stroke rehabilitation.

Analysis and design of segment control system in segmented primary mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Wenhao; Li, Bin; Chen, Mo; Xian, Hao

2017-10-01

Segmented primary mirror will be adopted widely in giant telescopes in future, such as TMT, E-ELT and GMT. High-performance control technology of the segmented primary mirror is one of the difficult technologies for telescopes using segmented primary mirror. The control of each segment is the basis of control system in segmented mirror. Correcting the tilt and tip of single segment is the main work of this paper which is divided into two parts. Firstly, harmonic response done in finite element model of single segment matches the Bode diagram of a two-order system whose natural frequency is 45 hertz and damping ratio is 0.005. Secondly, a control system model is established, and speed feedback is introduced in control loop to suppress resonance point gain and increase the open-loop bandwidth, up to 30Hz or even higher. Corresponding controller is designed based on the control system model described above.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-20

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century, including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. A segmented array of mirrors was designed by the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center for the solar concentrator test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for powering solar thermal propulsion engines. Each hexagon mirror has a spherical surface to approximate a parabolic concentrator when combined into the entire 18-foot diameter array. The aluminum mirrors were polished with a diamond turning machine that creates a glass-like reflective finish on metal. The precision fabrication machinery at the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center at MSFC can polish specialized optical elements to a world class quality of smoothness. This image shows optics physicist, Vince Huegele, examining one of the 144-segment hexagonal mirrors of the 18-foot diameter array at the MSFC solar concentrator test stand.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-20

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century, including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. A segmented array of mirrors was designed by the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center for solar the concentrator test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for powering solar thermal propulsion engines. Each hexagon mirror has a spherical surface to approximate a parabolic concentrator when combined into the entire 18-foot diameter array. The aluminum mirrors were polished with a diamond turning machine, that creates a glass-like reflective finish on metal. The precision fabrication machinery at the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center at MSFC can polish specialized optical elements to a world class quality of smoothness. This image shows optics physicist, Vince Huegele, examining one of the 144-segment hexagonal mirrors of the 18-foot diameter array at the MSFC solar concentrator test stand.

The Breadboard model of the LISA telescope assembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lucarelli, S.; Scheulen, D.; Kemper, D.; Sippel, R.; Verlaan, A.; Hogenhuis, H.; Ende, D.

2017-11-01

The primary goal of the LISA mission is the detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources in a frequency range of 10-4 to 1 Hz. This requires operational stabilities in the picometer range as well as highly predictable mechanical distortions upon cooling down, outgassing in space, and gravity release. In March 2011 ESA announced a new way forward for the Lclass candidate missions, including LISA. ESA and the scientific community are now studying options for European-only missions that offer a significant reduction of the costs, while maintaining their core science objectives. In this context LISA has become the New Gravitational wave Observatory (NGO). Despite this reformulation, the need for dimensional stability in the picometer range remains valid, and ESA have continued the corresponding LISA Technology Development Activities (TDA's) also in view of NGO. In such frame Astrium GmbH and xperion (Friedrichshafen, Germany) have designed and manufactured an ultra-stable CFRP breadboard of the LISA telescope in order to experimentally demonstrate that the structure and the M1 & M2 mirror mounts are fulfilling the LISA requirements in the mission operational thermal environment. Suitable techniques to mount the telescope mirrors and to support the M1 & M2 mirrors have been developed, with the aim of measuring a system CTE of less than 10-7 K-1 during cooling down to -80°C. Additionally to the stringent mass and stiffness specifications, the required offset design makes the control of relative tilts and lateral displacements between the M1 and M2 mirrors particularly demanding. The thermo-elastic performance of the telescope assembly is going to be experimentally verified by TNO (Delft, The Netherlands) starting from the second half of 2012. This paper addresses challenges faced in the design phase, shows the resulting hardware and present first outcomes of the test campaign performed at TNO.

The Breadboard Model of the LISA Telescope Assembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lucarelli, Stefano; Scheulen, Dietmar; Kemper, Daniel; Sippel, Rudolf; Ende, David

2012-07-01

The primary goal of the LISA mission is the detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources in a frequency range of 10-4 to 1 Hz. This requires operational stabilities in the picometer range as well as highly predictable mechanical distortions upon cooling down, outgassing in space, and gravity release. In March 2011 ESA announced a new way forward for the L-class candidate missions, including LISA. ESA and the scientific community are now studying options for European-only missions that offer a significant reduction of the costs, while maintaining their core science objectives. In the context of this reformulation exercise LISA has become the New Gravitational wave Observatory (NGO) [1]. Despite this reformulation, the need for dimensional stability in the picometer range remains valid, and ESA have continued the corresponding LISA Technology Development Activities (TDA’s) also in view of NGO. In such frame Astrium GmbH and xperion (Immenstaad/Friedrichshafen, Germany) have designed and manufactured an ultra-stable CFRP breadboard of the LISA telescope in order to experimentally demonstrate that the structure and the M1 & M2 mirror mounts are fulfilling the LISA requirements in the mission operational thermal environment. Suitable techniques to mount the telescope mirrors and to support the M1 & M2 mirrors have been developed, with the aim of measuring a system CTE of less than 10-7 K-1 during cooling down to -80 °C. Additionally to the stringent mass and stiffness specifications, the required offset design makes the control of relative tilts and lateral displacements between the M1 and M2 mirrors particularly demanding. The thermo-elastic performance of the telescope assembly is going to be experimentally verified by TNO (Delft, The Netherlands) starting from the second half of 2012. This paper addresses challenges faced in the design phase, and shows the resulting hardware.

Engineering the Future: Cell 6

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, P. H.

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the development of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), explaining the development using a systems engineering methodology. Included are slides showing the organizational chart, the JWST Science Goals, the size of the primary mirror, and full scale mockups of the JSWT. Also included is a review of the JWST Optical Telescope Requirements, a review of the preliminary design and analysis, the technology development required to create the JWST, with particular interest in the specific mirror technology that was required, and views of the mirror manufacturing process. Several slides review the process of verification and validation by testing and analysis, including a diagram of the Cryogenic Test Facility at Marshall, and views of the primary mirror while being tested in the cryogenic facility.

Technology Development for Nickel X-Ray Optics Enhancement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bubarev, Mikhail; Ramsey, Brian; Engelhaupt, Darell

2008-01-01

We are developing grazing-incidence x-ray optics for high-energy astrophysics using the electroform-nickel replication process. In this process, mirror shells are fabricated by replication off super-polished cylindrical mandrels. The mirrors fabricated using this process have a demonstrated optical performance at the level of 11-12 arc seconds resolution (HPD) for 30 keV x rays. Future missions demand ever higher angular resolutions and this places stringent requirements on the quality of the mandrels, the precision of the metrology, and the mounting and alignment of the mirror shells in their housings. A progress report on recent technology developments in all these areas will be presented along with a discussion on possible post fabrication, in-situ improvement of the x-ray mirrors quality.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-01

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery, and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. The process allows fabricating precisely shaped mandrels to be used and reused as masters for replicating high-quality mirrors. Image shows Dr. Alan Shapiro cleaning mirror mandrel to be applied with highly reflective and high-density coating in the Large Aperture Coating Chamber, MFSC Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center (SOMTC).

Design of an adjustable bipod flexure for a large-aperture mirror of a space camera.

PubMed

Liu, Bei; Wang, Wei; Qu, Yan-Jun; Li, Xu-Peng; Wang, Xiao; Zhao, Hui

2018-05-20

An adjustable bipod flexure (ABF) technique for a large-aperture mirror of a space camera is presented. The proposed flexure mount can decrease the surface distortions caused by the machining error and the assembly error of the mirror assembly (MA) in a horizontal optical testing layout. Through the analysis of the compliance matrix of conventional bipod flexure, the positional relationship between the rotation center and the apex of the flexure is investigated. Then, the principle of the adjustable flexure, known as the trapezoidal switching principle, is proposed based on the analysis result. The structure and application of the flexure are also described. The optical performance of the mirror mounted by the adjustable flexures in different misalignments was performed using finite element methods. The result shows that the astigmatic aberration due to gravity is effectively reduced by adjusting the mount, and the root-mean-square value of the mirror can be minimized with the misalignment between the flexure pivot and the neutral plane minimized. New monolithic bipod flexures, based on the optimal regulating variable Δ u according to the measurement results, are manufactured to replace the ABFs to secure the mirror's safety against launch loads. Modal analysis verified the mechanical safety of the MA with respect to the new monolithic flexures.

Design and simulation of the surface shape control system for membrane mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Gengsheng; Tang, Minxue

2009-11-01

The surface shape control is one of the key technologies for the manufacture of membrane mirror. This paper presents a design of membrane mirror's surface shape control system on the basis of fuzzy logic control. The system contains such function modules as surface shape design, surface shape control, surface shape analysis, and etc. The system functions are realized by using hybrid programming technology of Visual C# and MATLAB. The finite element method is adopted to simulate the surface shape control of membrane mirror. The finite element analysis model is established through ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL). ANSYS software kernel is called by the system in background running mode when doing the simulation. The controller is designed by means of controlling the sag of the mirror's central crosssection. The surface shape of the membrane mirror and its optical aberration are obtained by applying Zernike polynomial fitting. The analysis of surface shape control and the simulation of disturbance response are performed for a membrane mirror with 300mm aperture and F/2.7. The result of the simulation shows that by using the designed control system, the RMS wavefront error of the mirror can reach to 142λ (λ=632.8nm), which is consistent to the surface accuracy of the membrane mirror obtained by the large deformation theory of membrane under the same condition.

Research on controlling thermal deformable mirror's influence functions via manipulating thermal fields.

PubMed

Xue, Qiao; Huang, Lei; Hu, Dongxia; Yan, Ping; Gong, Mali

2014-01-10

For thermal deformable mirrors (DMs), the thermal field control is important because it will decide aberration correction effects. In order to better manipulate the thermal fields, a simple water convection system is proposed. The water convection system, which can be applied in thermal field bimetal DMs, shows effective thermal fields and influence-function controlling abilities. This is verified by the simulations and the contrast experiments of two prototypes: one of which utilizes air convection, the other uses water convection. Controlling the thermal fields will greatly promote the influence-function adjustability and aberration correction ability of thermal DMs.

ELID grinding characteristics of large stamping die for Wolter mirror.

PubMed

Yin, Shaohui; Ohmori, Hitoshi; Liu, Qing; Morita, Shinnya; Chen, Fengjun; Asami, Muneaki; Fan, Yufeng

2009-01-01

An ultra-precision ELID grinding of large stamping dies of Wolter mirror for X-ray telescope was presented in this paper. The large stamping dies (S55C) with confocal paraboloid and hyperboloid was ground by ELID arc-enveloped grinding. In this ELID grinding system, cast iron fiber bonded (CIFB) diamond wheels were controlled by 3-dimentional ways to scan the work-piece and generate required surfaces. Its grinding characteristics such as attainable form accuracy, surface roughness were investigated. Furthermore, some measures to improve form accuracy were discussed and verified such as truing, compensating, and on-machine measuring.

A Piezoelectric Unimorph Deformable Mirror Concept by Wafer Transfer for Ultra Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Eui-Hyeok; Shcheglov, Kirill

2002-01-01

Future concepts of ultra large space telescopes include segmented silicon mirrors and inflatable polymer mirrors. Primary mirrors for these systems cannot meet optical surface figure requirements and are likely to generate over several microns of wavefront errors. In order to correct for these large wavefront errors, high stroke optical quality deformable mirrors are required. JPL has recently developed a new technology for transferring an entire wafer-level mirror membrane from one substrate to another. A thin membrane, 100 mm in diameter, has been successfully transferred without using adhesives or polymers. The measured peak-to-valley surface error of a transferred and patterned membrane (1 mm x 1 mm x 0.016 mm) is only 9 nm. The mirror element actuation principle is based on a piezoelectric unimorph. A voltage applied to the piezoelectric layer induces stress in the longitudinal direction causing the film to deform and pull on the mirror connected to it. The advantage of this approach is that the small longitudinal strains obtainable from a piezoelectric material at modest voltages are thus translated into large vertical displacements. Modeling is performed for a unimorph membrane consisting of clamped rectangular membrane with a PZT layer with variable dimensions. The membrane transfer technology is combined with the piezoelectric bimorph actuator concept to constitute a compact deformable mirror device with a large stroke actuation of a continuous mirror membrane, resulting in a compact A0 systems for use in ultra large space telescopes.

Static and dynamic micro deformable mirror characterization by phase-shifting and time-averaged interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liotard, Arnaud; Zamkotsian, Frédéric

2017-11-01

The micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS), based on mature technologies of micro-electronics, are essential in the design of future astronomical instruments. One of these key-components is the microdeformable mirror for wave-front correction. Very challenging topics like search of exo-planets could greatly benefit from this technology. Design, realization and characterization of micro-Deformable Mirrors are under way at Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in collaboration with Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systèmes (LAAS). In order to measure the surface shape and the deformation parameters during operation of these devices, a high-resolution Twyman-Green interferometer has been developed. Measurements have been done on a tiltable micro-mirror (170*100μm2) designed by LAM-LAAS and realized by an American foundry, and also on an OKO deformable mirror (15mm diameter). Static characterization is made by phase shifting interferometry and dynamic measurements have been made by quantitative time-averaged interferometry. The OKO mirror has an actuator stroke of 370+/-10nm for 150V applied and its resonant frequency is 1170+/-50 Hz, and the tiltable mirror has a rotation cut-off frequency of 31+/-3 kHz.

Cryogenic Test Results of Hextek Mirror

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hadaway, James; Stahl, H. Philip; Eng, Ron; Hogue, William

2004-01-01

A 250 mm diameter lightweight borosilicate mirror has been interferometrically tested from room-temperature down to 30 K at the X-Ray Calibration Facility (XRCF) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The minor blank was manufactured by Hextek Corporation using a high-temperature gas fusion process and was then polished at MSFC. It is a sandwich-type mirror consisting of a thin face-sheet (approx.1.5 mm thick), a core structure (20 mm thick, approx.43 mm diameter cells, & 0.5-1.2 mm thick walls), and a thin back-sheet (3 mm thick). The mirror has a 2500 mm spherical radius-of- curvature @/lo). The areal density is 14 kg/sq m. The mirror was tested in the 1 m x 2 m chamber using an Instantaneous Phase Interferometer (PI) from ADE Phase Shift Technologies. The mirror was tested twice. The first test measured the change in surface figure from ambient to 30 K and the repeatability of the change. An attempt was then made by QED Technologies to cryo-figure the mirror using magnetorheological finishing. The second test measured the effectiveness of the cryo- figuring. This paper will describe the test goals, the test instrumentation, and the test results for these cryogenic tests.

Performance evaluation of coherent free space optical communications with a double-stage fast-steering-mirror adaptive optics system depending on the Greenwood frequency.

PubMed

Liu, Wei; Yao, Kainan; Huang, Danian; Lin, Xudong; Wang, Liang; Lv, Yaowen

2016-06-13

The Greenwood frequency (GF) is influential in performance improvement for the coherent free space optical communications (CFSOC) system with a closed-loop adaptive optics (AO) unit. We analyze the impact of tilt and high-order aberrations on the mixing efficiency (ME) and bit-error-rate (BER) under different GF. The root-mean-square value (RMS) of the ME related to the RMS of the tilt aberrations, and the GF is derived to estimate the volatility of the ME. Furthermore, a numerical simulation is applied to verify the theoretical analysis, and an experimental correction system is designed with a double-stage fast-steering-mirror and a 97-element continuous surface deformable mirror. The conclusions of this paper provide a reference for designing the AO system for the CFSOC system.

Optical rotation compensation for a holographic 3D display with a 360 degree horizontal viewing zone.

PubMed

Sando, Yusuke; Barada, Daisuke; Yatagai, Toyohiko

2016-10-20

A method for a continuous optical rotation compensation in a time-division-based holographic three-dimensional (3D) display with a rotating mirror is presented. Since the coordinate system of wavefronts after the mirror reflection rotates about the optical axis along with the rotation angle, compensation or cancellation is absolutely necessary to fix the reconstructed 3D object. In this study, we address this problem by introducing an optical image rotator based on a right-angle prism that rotates synchronously with the rotating mirror. The optical and continuous compensation reduces the occurrence of duplicate images, which leads to the improvement of the quality of reconstructed images. The effect of the optical rotation compensation is experimentally verified and a demonstration of holographic 3D display with the optical rotation compensation is presented.

Studies on dynamic behavior of rotating mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jingzhen; Sun, Fengshan; Gong, Xiangdong; Huang, Hongbin; Tian, Jie

2005-02-01

A rotating mirror is a kernel unit in a Miller-type high speed camera, which is both as an imaging element in optical path and as an element to implement ultrahigh speed photography. According to Schardin"s Principle, information capacity of an ultrahigh speed camera with rotating mirror depends on primary wavelength of lighting used by the camera and limit linear velocity on edge of the rotating-mirror: the latter is related to material (including specifications in technology), cross-section shape and lateral structure of rotating mirror. In this manuscript dynamic behavior of high strength aluminium alloy rotating mirrors is studied, from which it is preliminarily shown that an aluminium alloy rotating mirror can be absolutely used as replacement for a steel rotating-mirror or a titanium alloy rotating-mirror in framing photographic systems, and it could be also used as a substitute for a beryllium rotating-mirror in streak photographic systems.

Silicon Carbide Technologies for Lightweighted Aerospace Mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matson, L.; Chen, M.; Deblonk, B.; Palusinski, I.

The use of monolithic glass and beryllium to produce lightweighted aerospace mirror systems has reached its limits due to the long lead times, high processing costs, environmental effects and launch load/weight requirements. New material solutions and manufacturing processes are required to meet DoD's directed energy weapons, reconnaissance/surveillance, and secured communications needs. Over the past several years the Air Force, MDA, and NASA has focused their efforts on the fabrication, lightweighting, and scale-up of numerous silicon carbide (SiC) based materials. It is anticipated that SiC can be utilized for most applications from cryogenic to high temperatures. This talk will focus on describing the SOA for these (near term) SiC technology solutions for making mirror structural substrates, figuring and finishing technologies being investigated to reduce cost time and cost, and non-destructive evaluation methods being investigated to help eliminate risk. Mirror structural substrates made out of advanced engineered materials (far term solutions) such as composites, foams, and microsphere arrays for ultra lightweighting will also be briefly discussed.

Testing of a Stacked Core Mirror for UV Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Gary W.; Kirk, Charles S.; Maffett, Steven P.; Abplanalp, Calvin E.; Stahl, H. Philip; Eng, Ron; Arnold, William R. Sr.

2013-01-01

Advanced Ultraviolet, Optical, Near-Infrared (UVOIR) Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Testing Summary: (1) Processing of the stacked core mirror converged very quickly using ion figuring. (2) Results show no significant PSD change due to ion figuring in spatial periods smaller than 20mm. (3) Global surface figure limited by mount repeatability

Fabrication, Testing, Coating and Alignment of Fast Segmented Optics

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-25

mirror segment, a 100 mm thick Zerodur mirror blank was purchased from Schott. Figure 2 shows the segment and its support for polishing and testing in...Polishing large off-axis segments of fast primary mirrors 2. Testing large segments in an off-axis geometry 3. Alignment of multiple segments of a large... mirror 4. Coatings that reflect high-intensity light without distorting the substrate These technologies are critical because of several unique

The AXAF technology mirror assembly program - An overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wyman, Charles L.; Dailey, Carroll C.; Reily, Cary; Weisskopf, Martin; Mckinnon, Phil

1986-01-01

The manufacture and testing of the Technology Mirror Assembly (TMA), a prototype Wolter I telescope scaled to the dimensions of the innermost element of the High-Resolution Mirror Assembly for the NASA Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), are reviewed. Consideration is given to the grinding, polishing, coating, and assembly of the zerodur TMA blanks, the TMA mount design, and the test procedures used at the MSFC X-ray Calibration Facility. Test results indicate FWHM resolution less than 0.5 arcsec, but with significant near-field scattering attributed to ripple; further long-lap polishing is suggested.

Structural and Aerodynamic Optimization of UltraLightweight Technology for Research in Astronomy (ULTRA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Etzel, P. B.; Martin, R.; Romeo, R.; Fesen, R.; Hale, R.; Taghavi, R.; Anthony-Twarog, B. J.; Shawl, S. J.; Twarog, B. A.

2004-12-01

The focus of ULTRA (see poster by Twarog et al.) is a three-year plan to develop and test ultralightweight technology for research applications in astronomy. The goal is to demonstrate that a viable alternative exists to traditional glass-mirror technology by designing, fabricating, and testing a research telescope prototype comprising fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials. To date, several mirror designs have been tested. The main goal in the first year has been to develop a 0.4m diameter mirror and OTA that serve as prototypes for the 1m telescope design. Mirrors of 0.4m diameter have been successfully fabricated which yield diffraction limited images. This poster will include a display of the complete OTA (including optics), optics test results, and astronomical images taken with prototype mirrors. Finite element analysis has been used to evaluate the OTA and mirror designs. Preliminary design details were incorporated in a knowledge-based system. Adaptive Modeling Language (AML), an object oriented programming language developed by Technosoft, Inc., was used to develop a parameterized geometric model of the preliminary design. The system can generate mirrors with radials/circumferentials, tube core substructures, as well as modeling the support structure. Computational fluid dynamics analyses were performed for sweep, inclination and ambient wind speed. Finite element analyses were performed for core density and arrangement, skin thickness, back-surface curvature, spider configuration and arrangement of the OTA, while the loading conditions considered thus far are thermal, inertial, and aerodynamic pressure loads. Experimental tests, including ultrasonic nondestructive evaluations, infrared imaging, modal testing, and wind tunnel tests, have been performed on the first prototype mirror, with the primary goal of validating analytical models and identifying potential manufacturing induced variations to be expected among "like" mirrors. Support of this work by NSF grants AST-0320784 and AST-0321247, NASA grant NCC5-600, Kansas University, and San Diego State University is gratefully acknowledged

A 3D Polymer Based Printed Two-Dimensional Laser Scanner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oyman, H. A.; Gokdel, Y. D.; Ferhanoglu, O.; Yalcinkaya, A. D.

2016-10-01

A two-dimensional (2D) polymer based scanning mirror with magnetic actuation is developed for imaging applications. Proposed device consists of a circular suspension holding a rectangular mirror and can generate a 2D scan pattern. Three dimensional (3D) printing technology which is used for implementation of the device, offers added flexibility in controlling the cross-sectional profile as well as the stress distribution compared to the traditional planar process technologies. The mirror device is developed to meet a portable, miniaturized confocal microscope application in mind, delivering 4.5 and 4.8 degrees of optical scan angles at 111 and 267 Hz, respectively. As a result of this mechanical performance, the resulting microscope incorporating the mirror is estimated to accomplish a field of view (FOV) of 350 µm × 350 µm.

Engineering Specifications derived from Science Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Arnold, William; Bevan, Ryan M.; Smith, W. Scott; Kirk, Charles S.; Postman, Marc

2013-01-01

Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) is a multi-year effort to systematically mature to TRL-6 the critical technologies needed to produce 4-m or larger flight-qualified UVOIR mirrors by 2018 so that a viable mission can be considered by the 2020 Decadal Review. This technology must enable missions capable of both general astrophysics & ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. To accomplish our objective, we use a science-driven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND result in a high-performance low-cost low-risk system.

Design and Analysis of an X-Ray Mirror Assembly Using the Meta-Shell Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClelland, Ryan S.; Bonafede, Joseph; Saha, Timo T.; Solly, Peter M.; Zhang, William W.

2016-01-01

Lightweight and high resolution optics are needed for future space-based x-ray telescopes to achieve advances in high-energy astrophysics. Past missions such as Chandra and XMM-Newton have achieved excellent angular resolution using a full shell mirror approach. Other missions such as Suzaku and NuSTAR have achieved lightweight mirrors using a segmented approach. This paper describes a new approach, called meta-shells, which combines the fabrication advantages of segmented optics with the alignment advantages of full shell optics. Meta-shells are built by layering overlapping mirror segments onto a central structural shell. The resulting optic has the stiffness and rotational symmetry of a full shell, but with an order of magnitude greater collecting area. Several meta-shells so constructed can be integrated into a large x-ray mirror assembly by proven methods used for Chandra and XMM-Newton. The mirror segments are mounted to the meta-shell using a novel four point semi-kinematic mount. The four point mount deterministically locates the segment in its most performance sensitive degrees of freedom. Extensive analysis has been performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the four point mount and meta-shell approach. A mathematical model of a meta-shell constructed with mirror segments bonded at four points and subject to launch loads has been developed to determine the optimal design parameters, namely bond size, mirror segment span, and number of layers per meta-shell. The parameters of an example 1.3 m diameter mirror assembly are given including the predicted effective area. To verify the mathematical model and support opto-mechanical analysis, a detailed finite element model of a meta-shell was created. Finite element analysis predicts low gravity distortion and low sensitivity to thermal gradients.

Replicated x-ray optics for space applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudec, René; Pína, Ladislav; Inneman, Adolf

2017-11-01

We report on the program of design and development of X-ray optics for space applications in the Czech Republic. Having more than 30 years background in X-ray optics development for space applications (for use in astronomical X-ray telescopes onboard spacecrafts, before 1989 mostly for Soviet and East European INTERKOSMOS program), we focus nowadays on novel technologies and approaches, thin shell replicated mirrors, as well as studies of light-weight mirrors based on innovative materials such as ceramics. The collaboration includes teams from the Academy of Sciences, Universities, and industry. We will describe and discuss both the history of the development of Xray optics in the Czech Republic and the developed technologies and approaches (with focus on replication technology) as well as recent activities and developments including our participation on the ESA XEUS mirror technology development based on the Agreement between ESA and Czech Government.

Conceptual design and feasibility evaluation model of a 10 to the 8th power bit oligatomic mass memory. Volume 2: Feasibility evaluation model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horst, R. L.; Nordstrom, M. J.

1972-01-01

The partially populated oligatomic mass memory feasibility model is described and evaluated. A system was desired to verify the feasibility of the oligatomic (mirror) memory approach as applicable to large scale solid state mass memories.

Status Report and Lessons Learned from the Univ. of Arizona NMSD

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baiocchi, Dave; Burge, Jim

2003-01-01

We will present the latest generation of space mirror technology being developed at the Univ. of Arizona (UA). Unlike conventional monolithic mirrors, the UA mirrors are completely active in their operation. This allows greater flexibility in the mass, volume and performance specifications. The UA mirror design uses a thin flexible substrate for the optical surface and an actuated lightweight structure for surface accuracy and support. We provide an update on the UA NGST Mirror System Demonstrator (NMSD). The 2-m, f/5 NMSD mirror uses a 2 mm thick glass substrate and weighs 86 pounds. We review the mirror's design, discuss the mythology schemes used to actuate the figure, and present a list of the lessons learned.

[Motion control of moving mirror based on fixed-mirror adjustment in FTIR spectrometer].

PubMed

Li, Zhong-bing; Xu, Xian-ze; Le, Yi; Xu, Feng-qiu; Li, Jun-wei

2012-08-01

The performance of the uniform motion of the moving mirror, which is the only constant motion part in FTIR spectrometer, and the performance of the alignment of the fixed mirror play a key role in FTIR spectrometer, and affect the interference effect and the quality of the spectrogram and may restrict the precision and resolution of the instrument directly. The present article focuses on the research on the uniform motion of the moving mirror and the alignment of the fixed mirror. In order to improve the FTIR spectrometer, the maglev support system was designed for the moving mirror and the phase detection technology was adopted to adjust the tilt angle between the moving mirror and the fixed mirror. This paper also introduces an improved fuzzy PID control algorithm to get the accurate speed of the moving mirror and realize the control strategy from both hardware design and algorithm. The results show that the development of the moving mirror motion control system gets sufficient accuracy and real-time, which can ensure the uniform motion of the moving mirror and the alignment of the fixed mirror.

X-Ray Optics at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Dell, Stephen L.; Atkins, Carolyn; Broadway, David M.; Elsner, Ronald F.; Gaskin, Jessica A.; Gubarev, Mikhail V.; Kilaru, Kiranmayee; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Ramsey, Brian D.; Roche, Jacqueline M.;

Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD) Risk Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byberg, Alicia; Russell, J. Kevin; Kaukler, Donna; Burdine, Robert V. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper will report risk issues associated with designing, manufacturing, and testing the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD). The Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD) will be developed as a lightweight primary mirror system that can be produced at a low cost and with a short manufacturing schedule. This technology will add to the knowledge base for selection for the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), Space Based Laser (SBL), Research Laboratory mission (AFRL), and other government agency programs.

Production of the 4.26 m ZERODUR mirror blank for the Advanced Technology Solar telescope (ATST)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jedamzik, Ralf; Werner, Thomas; Westerhoff, Thomas

2014-07-01

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST, formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, ATST) will be the most powerful solar telescope in the world. It is currently being built by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) in a height of 3000 m above sea level on the mountain Haleakala of Maui, Hawaii. The primary mirror blank of diameter 4.26 m is made of the extremely low thermal expansion glass ceramic ZERODUR® of SCHOTT AG Advanced Optics. The DKIST primary mirror design is extremely challenging. With a mirror thickness of only 78 to 85 mm it is the smallest thickness ever machined on a mirror of 4.26 m in diameter. Additionally the glassy ZERODUR® casting is one of the largest in size ever produced for a 4 m class ZERODUR® mirror blank. The off axis aspherical mirror surface required sophisticated grinding procedures to achieve the specified geometrical tolerance. The small thickness of about 80 mm required special measures during processing, lifting and transport. Additionally acid etch treatment was applied to the convex back-surface and the conical shaped outer diameter surface to improve the strength of the blank. This paper reports on the challenging tasks and the achievements on the material property and dimensional specification parameter during the production of the 4.26 m ZERODUR® primary mirror blank for AURA.

Annual Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-02-01

suspension systems is not a concern. Deformable Mirrors (September 1998) The atmosphere, temperature variations, and vibration distort optical system...images. Deformable mirrors can compensate for these effects in real time. They are used in surveillance optics, laser weapons, and astronomical telescopes...This assessment investigated the availability of current and potential deformable mirror producers, and possible alternative technologies. The

Biomimetics and astronomical X-ray optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudec, R.; Remisova, K.

2017-07-01

Some sea and water animals have strange mirror eyes which have (or might have) potential application in science and technology in general and in X—ray astrophysics in particular. While the principles of mirror eyes of decapods (lobsters, crayfishes) are already applied in space and ground—based imaging experiments, the mirror eyes of specific fishes are still very little investigated.

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Schwarzschild-Couder (SC) Telescope Mechanical and Optical System Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guarino, V.; Vassiliev, V.; Buckley, J.; Byrum, K.; Falcone, A.; Fegan, S.; Finley, J.; Hanna, D.; Kaaret, P.; Konopelko, A.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Romani, R.; Wagner, R.; Woods, M.

2009-05-01

The concept of a future ground-based gamma-ray observatory, AGIS, in the energy range 20 GeV to 200 TeV is based on an array of 50-100 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). The anticipated improvement of AGIS sensitivity, angular resolution, and reliability of operation imposes demanding technological and cost requirements on the design of IACTs. In this submission, we focus on the optical and mechanical systems for a novel Schwarzschild-Couder two-mirror aplanatic optical system originally proposed by Schwarzschild. Emerging new mirror production technologies based on replication processes, such as cold and hot glass slumping, cured CFRP, and electroforming, provide new opportunities for cost effective solutions for the design of the optical system. We explore capabilities of these mirror fabrication methods for the AGIS project and alignment methods for optical systems. We also study a mechanical structure which will provide support points for mirrors and camera design driven by the requirement of minimizing the deflections of the mirror support structures.

Large Space Optics: From Hubble to JWST and Beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2008-01-01

If necessity truly is the mother of invention, then advances in lightweight space mirror technology have been driven by launch vehicle mass and volume constraints. In the late 1970 s, at the start of Hubble development, the state of the art in ground based telescopes was 3 to 4 meter monolithic primary mirrors with masses of 6000 to 10,000 kg - clearly too massive for the planned space shuttle 25,000 kg capability to LEO. Necessity led Hubble to a different solution. Launch vehicle mass constraints (and cost) resulted in the development of a 2.4 meter lightweight eggcrate mirror. At 810 kg (180 kg/m2), this mirror was approximately 7.4% of HST s total 11,110 kg mass. And, the total observatory structure at 4.3 m x 13.2 m fit snuggly inside the space shuttle 4.6 m x 18.3 m payload bay. In the early 1990 s, at the start of JWST development, the state of the art in ground based telescopes was 8 meter class monolithic primary mirrors (16,000 to 23,000 kg) and 10 meter segmented mirrors (14,400 kg). Unfortunately, launch vehicles were still constrained to 4.5 meter payloads and 25,000 kg to LEO or 6,600 kg to L2. Furthermore, science now demanded a space telescope with 6 to 8 meter aperture operating at L2. Mirror technology was identified as a critical capability necessary to enable the next generation of large aperture space telescopes. Specific telescope architectures were explored via three independent design concept studies conducted during the summer of 1996 (1). These studies identified two significant architectural constraints: segmentation and areal density. Because the launch vehicle fairing payload dynamic envelop diameter is approximately 4.5 meters, the only way to launch an 8 meter class mirror is to segment it, fold it and deploy it on orbit - resulting in actuation and control requirements. And, because of launch vehicle mass limits, the primary mirror allocation was only 1000 kg - resulting in a maximum areal density of 20 kg/m2. At the inception of JWST in 1996, such a capability did not exist. A highly successful technology development program was initiated resulting in matured and demonstrated mirror technology for JWST (2, 3). Today, the JWST 6.5 meter primary mirror has an areal density of 25 kg/m2 for a total mass of 625 kg or 9.6% of the total JWST observatory mass of 6,500 kg. Looking into the future, science requires increasing larger collecting apertures. Ground based telescopes are already moving towards 30+ meter mirrors. The only way to meet this challenge for space telescopes is via even lower areal density mirrors or on-orbit assembly or larger launch vehicles (4). The planned NASA Ares V with its 10 meter fairing and 55,000 kg payload to L2 eliminates this constraint (5).

The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope mount assembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warner, Mark; Cho, Myung; Goodrich, Bret; Hansen, Eric; Hubbard, Rob; Lee, Joon Pyo; Wagner, Jeremy

2006-06-01

When constructed on the summit of Haleakala on the island of Maui, Hawaii, the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) will be the world's largest solar telescope. The ATST is a unique design that utilizes a state-of-the-art off-axis Gregorian optical layout with five reflecting mirrors delivering light to a Nasmyth instrument rotator, and nine reflecting mirrors delivering light to an instrument suite located on a large diameter rotating coude lab. The design of the telescope mount structure, which supports and positions the mirrors and scientific instruments, has presented noteworthy challenges to the ATST engineering staff. Several novel design solutions, as well as adaptations of existing telescope technologies to the ATST application, are presented in this paper. Also shown are plans for the control system and drives of the structure.

Measuring the In-Process Figure, Final Prescription, and System Alignment of Large Optics and Segmented Mirrors Using Lidar Metrology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ohl, Raymond; Slotwinski, Anthony; Eegholm, Bente; Saif, Babak

2011-01-01

The fabrication of large optics is traditionally a slow process, and fabrication capability is often limited by measurement capability. W hile techniques exist to measure mirror figure with nanometer precis ion, measurements of large-mirror prescription are typically limited to submillimeter accuracy. Using a lidar instrument enables one to measure the optical surface rough figure and prescription in virtuall y all phases of fabrication without moving the mirror from its polis hing setup. This technology improves the uncertainty of mirror presc ription measurement to the micron-regime.

High-order adaptive secondary mirrors: where are we?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salinari, Piero; Sandler, David G.

1998-09-01

We discuss the current developments and the perspective performances of adaptive secondary mirrors for high order adaptive a correction on large ground based telescopes. The development of the basic techniques involved a large collaborative effort of public research Institutes and of private companies is now essentially complete. The next crucial step will be the construction of an adaptive secondary mirror for the 6.5 m MMT. Problems such as the fabrication of very thin mirrors, the low cost implementation of fast position sensors, of efficient and compact electromagnetic actuators, of the control and communication electronics, of the actuator control system, of the thermal control and of the mechanical layout can be considered as solved, in some cases with more than one viable solution. To verify performances at system level two complete prototypes have been built and tested, one at ThermoTrex and the other at Arcetri. The two prototypes adopt the same basic approach concerning actuators, sensor and support of the thin mirror, but differ in a number of aspects such as the material of the rigid back plate used as reference for the thin mirror, the number and surface density of the actuators, the solution adopted for the removal of the heat, and the design of the electronics. We discuss how the results obtained by of the two prototypes and by numerical simulations will guide the design of full size adaptive secondary units.

A simple model for studying rotation errors of gimbal mount axes in laser tracking system based on spherical mirror as a reflection unit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Huixu; Shi, Zhaoyao; Chen, Hongfang; Sun, Yanqiang

2018-01-01

This paper presents a novel experimental approach and a simple model for verifying that spherical mirror of laser tracking system could lessen the effect of rotation errors of gimbal mount axes based on relative motion thinking. Enough material and evidence are provided to support that this simple model could replace complex optical system in laser tracking system. This experimental approach and model interchange the kinematic relationship between spherical mirror and gimbal mount axes in laser tracking system. Being fixed stably, gimbal mount axes' rotation error motions are replaced by spatial micro-displacements of spherical mirror. These motions are simulated by driving spherical mirror along the optical axis and vertical direction with the use of precision positioning platform. The effect on the laser ranging measurement accuracy of displacement caused by the rotation errors of gimbal mount axes could be recorded according to the outcome of laser interferometer. The experimental results show that laser ranging measurement error caused by the rotation errors is less than 0.1 μm if radial error motion and axial error motion are under 10 μm. The method based on relative motion thinking not only simplifies the experimental procedure but also achieves that spherical mirror owns the ability to reduce the effect of rotation errors of gimbal mount axes in laser tracking system.

Stellar figure sensor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters, W. N.

1973-01-01

A compilation of analytical and experimental data is presented concerning the stellar figure sensor. The sensor is an interferometric device which is located in the focal plane of an orbiting large space telescope (LST). The device was designed to perform interferometry on the optical wavefront of a single star after it has propagated through the LST. An analytical model of the device was developed and its accuracy was verified by an operating laboratory breadboard. A series of linear independent control equations were derived which define the operations required for utilizing a focal plane figure sensor in the control loop for the secondary mirror position and for active control of the primary mirror.

Development of image mappers for hyperspectral biomedical imaging applications

PubMed Central

Kester, Robert T.; Gao, Liang; Tkaczyk, Tomasz S.

2010-01-01

A new design and fabrication method is presented for creating large-format (>100 mirror facets) image mappers for a snapshot hyperspectral biomedical imaging system called an image mapping spectrometer (IMS). To verify this approach a 250 facet image mapper with 25 multiple-tilt angles is designed for a compact IMS that groups the 25 subpupils in a 5 × 5 matrix residing within a single collecting objective's pupil. The image mapper is fabricated by precision diamond raster fly cutting using surface-shaped tools. The individual mirror facets have minimal edge eating, tilt errors of <1 mrad, and an average roughness of 5.4 nm. PMID:20357875

James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror integration: testing the multiwavelength interferometer on the test bed telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olczak, Gene; Fischer, David J.; Connelly, Mark; Wells, Conrad

2011-09-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) integration includes a center of curvature test on its 18 primary mirror segment assemblies (PMSAs). This important test is the only ground test that will demonstrate the ability to align all 18 PMSAs. Using a multi-wavelength interferometer (MWIF) integrated to the test bed telescope (TBT), a one-sixth scale model of the JWST, we verify our ability to align and phase the 18 PMSAs. In this paper we will discuss data analysis and test results when using the MWIF to align the segments of the TBT in preparation for alignment of the JWST.

By the Dozen: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Mirrors

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-03

Caption: One dozen (out of 18) flight mirror segments that make up the primary mirror on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have been installed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn More: Since December 2015, the team of scientists and engineers have been working tirelessly to install all the primary mirror segments onto the telescope structure in the large clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The twelfth mirror was installed on January 2, 2016. "This milestone signifies that all of the hexagonal shaped mirrors on the fixed central section of the telescope structure are installed and only the 3 mirrors on each wing are left for installation," said Lee Feinberg, NASA's Optical Telescope Element Manager at NASA Goddard. "The incredibly skilled and dedicated team assembling the telescope continues to find ways to do things faster and more efficiently." Each hexagonal-shaped segment measures just over 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) across and weighs approximately 88 pounds (40 kilograms). After being pieced together, the 18 primary mirror segments will work together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) mirror. The primary mirror will unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. The mirrors are placed on the telescope's backplane using a robotic arm, guided by engineers. The full installation is expected to be completed in a few months. The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. The installation of the mirrors onto the telescope structure is performed by Harris Corporation of Rochester, New York. Harris Corporation leads integration and testing for the telescope. While the mirror assembly is a very significant milestone, there are many more steps involved in assembling the Webb telescope. The primary mirror and the tennis-court-sized sunshield are the largest and most visible components of the Webb telescope. However, there are four smaller components that are less visible, yet critical. The instruments that will fly aboard Webb - cameras and spectrographs with detectors able to record extremely faint signals — are part of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), which is currently undergoing its final cryogenic vacuum test and will be integrated with the mirror later this year.

By the Dozen: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Mirrors

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-03

A view of the one dozen (out of 18) flight mirror segments that make up the primary mirror on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have been installed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn More: Since December 2015, the team of scientists and engineers have been working tirelessly to install all the primary mirror segments onto the telescope structure in the large clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The twelfth mirror was installed on January 2, 2016. "This milestone signifies that all of the hexagonal shaped mirrors on the fixed central section of the telescope structure are installed and only the 3 mirrors on each wing are left for installation," said Lee Feinberg, NASA's Optical Telescope Element Manager at NASA Goddard. "The incredibly skilled and dedicated team assembling the telescope continues to find ways to do things faster and more efficiently." Each hexagonal-shaped segment measures just over 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) across and weighs approximately 88 pounds (40 kilograms). After being pieced together, the 18 primary mirror segments will work together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) mirror. The primary mirror will unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. The mirrors are placed on the telescope's backplane using a robotic arm, guided by engineers. The full installation is expected to be completed in a few months. The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. The installation of the mirrors onto the telescope structure is performed by Harris Corporation of Rochester, New York. Harris Corporation leads integration and testing for the telescope. While the mirror assembly is a very significant milestone, there are many more steps involved in assembling the Webb telescope. The primary mirror and the tennis-court-sized sunshield are the largest and most visible components of the Webb telescope. However, there are four smaller components that are less visible, yet critical. The instruments that will fly aboard Webb - cameras and spectrographs with detectors able to record extremely faint signals — are part of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), which is currently undergoing its final cryogenic vacuum test and will be integrated with the mirror later this year.

Wavelength tunable ultrafast fiber laser via reflective mirror with taper structure.

PubMed

Fang, Li; Huang, Chuyun; Liu, Ting; Gogneau, Noelle; Bourhis, Eric; Gierak, Jacques; Oudar, Jean-Louis

2016-12-20

Laser sources with a controllable flexible wavelength have found widespread applications in optical fiber communication, optical sensing, and microscopy. Here, we report a tunable mode-locked fiber laser using a graphene-based saturable absorber and a tapered mirror as an end mirror in the cavity. The phase layer in the mirror is precisely etched by focused ion beam (FIB) milling technology, and the resonant wavelength of the mirror shifts correspond to the different etch depths. By scanning the tapered mirror mechanically, the center wavelength of a mode-locked fiber laser can be continuously tuned from 1562 to 1532 nm, with a pulse width in the sub-ps level and repetition rate of 27 MHz.

COI NMSD Hybrid Mirror

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mehle, Greg; Stahl, Phil (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This presentation provides an overview of the development of the 1.6 meter hybrid mirror demonstrator for the NGST Mirror System Demonstrator (NMSD) program. The COI design approach for the NGST program combines the optical performance of glass, with the high specific stiffness capabilities of composite materials The foundation technologies being exploited in the development of the hybrid mirror focus upon precision Composite Materials for cryogenic operation, and non-contact optical processing (ion figuring) of the lightweight mirror surface. The NGST Mirror System Demonstrator (NMSD) has been designed and built by Composite Optics, Inc. (COI) with optical processing performed by SAGEM (REOSC). The sponsors of these efforts are the NASA Marshall and Goddard Space Flight Centers.

The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) Technology Roadmap

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahle, Carl; Balasubramanian, K.; Bolcar, M.; Clampin, M.; Feinberg, L.; Hartman, K.; Mosier, C.; Quijada, M.; Rauscher, B.; Redding, D.;

Novel ultra-lightweight and high-resolution MEMS x-ray optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Ezoe, Yuichiro; Takagi, Utako; Mita, Makoto; Riveros, Raul; Yamaguchi, Hitomi; Kato, Fumiki; Sugiyama, Susumu; Fujiwara, Kouzou; Morishita, Kohei; Nakajima, Kazuo; Fujihira, Shinya; Kanamori, Yoshiaki; Yamasaki, Noriko Y.; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa; Maeda, Ryutaro

2009-05-01

We have been developing ultra light-weight X-ray optics using MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technologies.We utilized crystal planes after anisotropic wet etching of silicon (110) wafers as X-ray mirrors and succeeded in X-ray reflection and imaging. Since we can etch tiny pores in thin wafers, this type of optics can be the lightest X-ray telescope. However, because the crystal planes are alinged in certain directions, we must approximate ideal optical surfaces with flat planes, which limits angular resolution of the optics on the order of arcmin. In order to overcome this issue, we propose novel X-ray optics based on a combination of five recently developed MEMS technologies, namely silicon dry etching, X-ray LIGA, silicon hydrogen anneal, magnetic fluid assisted polishing and hot plastic deformation of silicon. In this paper, we describe this new method and report on our development of X-ray mirrors fabricated by these technologies and X-ray reflection experiments of two types of MEMS X-ray mirrors made of silicon and nickel. For the first time, X-ray reflections on these mirrors were detected in the angular response measurements. Compared to model calculations, surface roughness of the silicon and nickel mirrors were estimated to be 5 nm and 3 nm, respectively.

Adaptive optics system performance approximations for atmospheric turbulence correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyson, Robert K.

1990-10-01

Analysis of adaptive optics system behavior often can be reduced to a few approximations and scaling laws. For atmospheric turbulence correction, the deformable mirror (DM) fitting error is most often used to determine a priori the interactuator spacing and the total number of correction zones required. This paper examines the mirror fitting error in terms of its most commonly used exponential form. The explicit constant in the error term is dependent on deformable mirror influence function shape and actuator geometry. The method of least squares fitting of discrete influence functions to the turbulent wavefront is compared to the linear spatial filtering approximation of system performance. It is found that the spatial filtering method overstimates the correctability of the adaptive optics system by a small amount. By evaluating fitting error for a number of DM configurations, actuator geometries, and influence functions, fitting error constants verify some earlier investigations.

Ion polished Cr/Sc attosecond multilayer mirrors for high water window reflectivity

DOE PAGES

Guggenmos, Alexander; Radünz, Stefan; Rauhut, Roman; ...

2014-01-20

Recent advances in the development of attosecond soft X-ray sources ranging into the water window spectral range, between the 1s states of carbon and oxygen (284 eV–543 eV), are also driving the development of suited broadband multilayer optics for steering and shaping attosecond pulses. The relatively low intensity of current High Harmonic Generation (HHG) soft X-ray sources calls for an efficient use of photons, thus the development of low-loss multilayer optics is of uttermost importance. Here, we report about the realization of broadband Cr/Sc attosecond multilayer mirrors with nearly atomically smooth interfaces by an optimized ion beam deposition and assistedmore » interface polishing process. This yields to our knowledge highest multilayer mirror reflectivity at 300 eV near normal incidence. The results are verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and soft/hard X-ray reflectometry.« less

Ion polished Cr/Sc attosecond multilayer mirrors for high water window reflectivity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guggenmos, Alexander; Radünz, Stefan; Rauhut, Roman

Recent advances in the development of attosecond soft X-ray sources ranging into the water window spectral range, between the 1s states of carbon and oxygen (284 eV–543 eV), are also driving the development of suited broadband multilayer optics for steering and shaping attosecond pulses. The relatively low intensity of current High Harmonic Generation (HHG) soft X-ray sources calls for an efficient use of photons, thus the development of low-loss multilayer optics is of uttermost importance. Here, we report about the realization of broadband Cr/Sc attosecond multilayer mirrors with nearly atomically smooth interfaces by an optimized ion beam deposition and assistedmore » interface polishing process. This yields to our knowledge highest multilayer mirror reflectivity at 300 eV near normal incidence. The results are verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and soft/hard X-ray reflectometry.« less

Method for a dummy CD mirror server based on NAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Muna; Pei, Jing

2002-09-01

With the development of computer network, information sharing is becoming the necessity in human life. The rapid development of CD-ROM and CD-ROM driver techniques makes it possible to issue large database online. After comparing many designs of dummy CD mirror database, which are the embodiment of a main product in CD-ROM database now and in near future, we proposed and realized a new PC based scheme. Our system has the following merits, such as, supporting all kinds of CD format; supporting many network protocol; the independence of mirror network server and the main server; low price, super large capacity, without the need of any special hardware. Preliminarily experiments have verified the validity of the proposed scheme. Encouraged by the promising application future, we are now preparing to put it into market. This paper discusses the design and implement of the CD-ROM server detailedly.

A Space Imaging Concept Based on a 4-meter Spun-Cast Borosilicate Monolithic Primary Mirror

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

borosilicate monolithic primary mirror 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Steve West, S.H... Mirror Technology Days, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 7-9 June 2010. 14. ABSTRACT The goal of this effort is to produce the largest monolithic telescope...capable of being lifted by a Delta IV or Atlas V EELV to 500 km. A strategy using a 4 m borosilicate mirror is proposed. A preliminary architecture was

Research in the Optical Sciences.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-30

technology, as mirrors for laser weapons, and as protec- tive coatings in laser warfare. Three phases of the study were considered: 91. Laboratory...performance of simple metal coatings used on concentrating and flat-plate mirrors subject to high solar flux and heat, and on military mirrors used for...atI i :-a;t ;oil Cutiponlit -1of th >na"Cl I I C ’k lig ht cani be indi(ependent iv measured. 12 The scattering levels of most of the studied mirrors

Electromagnetic deformable mirror for space applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuiper, S.; Doelman, N.; Overtoom, T.; Nieuwkoop, E.; Russchenberg, T.; van Riel, M.; Wildschut, J.; Baeten, M.; Spruit, H.; Brinkers, S.; Human, J.

2017-09-01

To increase the collecting power and to improve the angular imaging resolution, space telescopes are evolving towards larger primary mirrors. The aerial density of the telescope mirrors needs to be kept low, however, to be compatible with the launch requirements. A light-weight (primary) mirror will introduce additional optical aberrations to the system. These may be caused by for instance manufacturing errors, gravity release and thermo-elastic effects. Active Optics (AO) is a key candidate technology to correct for the resultant wave front aberrations [1].

LINC-NIRVANA piston control elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brix, Mario; Pott, Jörg-Uwe; Bertram, Thomas; Rost, Steffen; Borelli, Jose Luis; Herbst, Thomas M.; Kuerster, Martin; Rohloff, Ralf-Rainer

2010-07-01

We review the status of hardware developments related to the Linc-Nirvana optical path difference (OPD) control. The status of our telescope vibration measurements is given. We present the design concept of a feed-forward loop to damp the impact of telescope mirror vibrations on the OPD seen by Linc-Nirvana. At the focus of the article is a description of the actuator of the OPD control loop. The weight and vibration optimized construction of this actuator (aka piston mirror) and its mount has a complex dynamical behavior, which prevents classical PI feedback control from delivering fast and precise motion of the mirror surface. Therefore, an H-; optimized control strategy will be applied, custom designed for the piston mirror. The effort of realizing a custom controller on a DSP to drive the piezo is balanced by the outlook of achieving more than 5x faster servo bandwidths. The laboratory set-up to identify the system, and verify the closed loop control performance is presented. Our goal is to achieve 30 Hz closed-loop control bandwidth at a precision of 30 nm.

Structured light stereo catadioptric scanner based on a spherical mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barone, S.; Neri, P.; Paoli, A.; Razionale, A. V.

2018-08-01

The present paper describes the development and characterization of a structured light stereo catadioptric scanner for the omnidirectional reconstruction of internal surfaces. The proposed approach integrates two digital cameras, a multimedia projector and a spherical mirror, which is used to project the structured light patterns generated by the light emitter and, at the same time, to reflect into the cameras the modulated fringe patterns diffused from the target surface. The adopted optical setup defines a non-central catadioptric system, thus relaxing any geometrical constraint in the relative placement between optical devices. An analytical solution for the reflection on a spherical surface is proposed with the aim at modelling forward and backward projection tasks for a non-central catadioptric setup. The feasibility of the proposed active catadioptric scanner has been verified by reconstructing various target surfaces. Results demonstrated a great influence of the target surface distance from the mirror's centre on the measurement accuracy. The adopted optical configuration allows the definition of a metrological 3D scanner for surfaces disposed within 120 mm from the mirror centre.

Engineers Work on the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Engineers at Ball Aerospace test the Wavefront Sensing and Control testbed to ensure that the 18 primary mirror segments and one secondary mirror on JWST work as one. The test is performed on a 1/6 scale model of the JWST mirrors. Credit: NASA/Northrop Grumman/Ball Aerospace To read more about the James Webb Space Telescope go to: www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/partnerships.html NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

High-performance coatings for micromechanical mirrors.

PubMed

Gatto, Alexandre; Yang, Minghong; Kaiser, Norbert; Heber, Jörg; Schmidt, Jan Uwe; Sandner, Thilo; Schenk, Harald; Lakner, Hubert

2006-03-01

High-performance coatings for micromechanical mirrors were developed. The high-reflective metal systems can be integrated into the technology of MOEMS, such as spatial light modulators and microscanning mirrors from the near-infrared down to the vacuum-ultraviolet spectral regions. The reported metal designs permit high optical performances to be merged with suitable mechanical properties and fitting complementary metal-oxide semiconductor compatibility.

Technology Applications Report 1993

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-01-01

Companies Find Riches in Acousto-Optics 39 BMD Research Spurs Growth of Optics Start-Up 40 Improved Mirror Shaping Techniques to Correct Hubble...without destroying spectral bands along the horizon- tal axis. By developing toroidal mirrors that correct the vertical image, Chromex, Inc. was...which provide better image resolution and wider field-of-view than standard spherical-shaped mirrors , but are more difficult to make. PACE can

Advanced UVOIR Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Postman, Marc; Soummer, Remi; Sivramakrishnan, Annand; Macintosh, Bruce; Guyon, Olivier; Krist, John; Stahl, H. Philip; Smith, W. Scott; Mosier, Gary; Kirk, Charles;

Polishers around the globe: an overview on the market of large astronomical mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Döhring, Thorsten

2014-07-01

Astronomical mirrors are key elements in modern optical telescopes, their dimensions are usually large and their specifications are demanding. Only a limited number of skilled companies respectively institutions around the world are able to master the challenge to polish an individual astronomical mirror, especially in dimensions above one meter. This paper presents an overview on the corresponding market including a listing of polishers around the globe. Therefore valuable information is provided to the astronomical community: Polishers may use the information as a global competitor database, astronomers and project managers may get more transparency on potential suppliers, and suppliers of polishing equipment may learn about unknown potential customers in other parts of the world. An evaluation of the historical market demand on large monolithic astronomical mirrors is presented. It concluded that this is still a niche market with a typical mean rate of 1-2 mirrors per year. Polishing of such mirrors is an enabling technology with impact on the development of technical know-how, public relation, visibility and reputation of the supplier. Within a corresponding technical discussion different polishing technologies are described. In addition it is demonstrated that strategic aspects and political considerations are influencing the selection of the optical finisher.

Progress making the top end optical assembly (TEOA) for the 4-meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canzian, Blaise; Barentine, J.; Arendt, J.; Bader, S.; Danyo, G.; Heller, C.

2012-09-01

L-3 Integrated Optical Systems (IOS) Division has been selected by the National Solar Observatory (NSO) to design and produce the Top End Optical Assembly (TEOA) for the 4-meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) to operate at Haleakal', Maui. ATST will perform to a very high optical performance level in a difficult thermal environment. The TEOA, containing the 0.65-meter silicon carbide secondary mirror and support, mirror thermal management system, mirror positioning and fast tip-tilt system, field stop with thermally managed heat dump, thermally managed Lyot stop, safety interlock and control system, and support frame, operates in the "hot spot" at the prime focus of the ATST and so presents special challenges. In this paper, we describe progress in the L-3 technical approach to meeting these challenges, including silicon carbide off-axis mirror design, fabrication, and high accuracy figuring and polishing all within L-3; mirror support design; the design for stray light control; subsystems for opto-mechanical positioning and high accuracy absolute mirror orientation sensing; Lyot stop design; and thermal management of all design elements to remain close to ambient temperature despite the imposed solar irradiance load.

Review of infrared scene projector technology-1993

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Driggers, Ronald G.; Barnard, Kenneth J.; Burroughs, E. E.; Deep, Raymond G.; Williams, Owen M.

1994-07-01

The importance of testing IR imagers and missile seekers with realistic IR scenes warrants a review of the current technologies used in dynamic infrared scene projection. These technologies include resistive arrays, deformable mirror arrays, mirror membrane devices, liquid crystal light valves, laser writers, laser diode arrays, and CRTs. Other methods include frustrated total internal reflection, thermoelectric devices, galvanic cells, Bly cells, and vanadium dioxide. A description of each technology is presented along with a discussion of their relative benefits and disadvantages. The current state of each methodology is also summarized. Finally, the methods are compared and contrasted in terms of their performance parameters.

Thermal Analysis of the Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) 8 Meter Primary Mirror

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hornsby, Linda; Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.

2010-01-01

The Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) preliminary design concept consists of an 8 meter diameter monolithic primary mirror enclosed in an insulated, optical tube with stray light baffles and a sunshade. ATLAST will be placed in orbit about the Sun-Earth L2 and will experience constant exposure to the sun. The insulation on the optical tube and sunshade serve to cold bias the telescope which helps to minimize thermal gradients. The primary mirror will be maintained at 280K with an active thermal control system. The geometric model of the primary mirror, optical tube, sun baffles, and sunshade was developed using Thermal Desktop(R) SINDA/FLUINT(R) was used for the thermal analysis and the radiation environment was analyzed using RADCAD(R). A XX node model was executed in order to characterize the static performance and thermal stability of the mirror during maneuvers. This is important because long exposure observations, such as extra-solar terrestrial planet finding and characterization, require a very stable observatory wave front. Steady state thermal analyses served to predict mirror temperatures for several different sun angles. Transient analyses were performed in order to predict thermal time constant of the primary mirror for a 20 degree slew or 30 degree roll maneuver. This paper describes the thermal model and provides details of the geometry, thermo-optical properties, and the environment which influences the thermal performance. All assumptions that were used in the analysis are also documented. Parametric analyses are summarized for design parameters including primary mirror coatings and sunshade configuration. Estimates of mirror heater power requirements are reported. The thermal model demonstrates results for the primary mirror heated from the back side and edges using a heater system with multiple independently controlled zones.

Current Technology Development Efforts on the International X-Ray Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, David

2011-01-01

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is a collaboration between NASA, ESA, and JAXA which is under study for launch in 2021. IXO will be a large 6600 kilogram Great Observatory-class mission which will build upon the legacies of the Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray observatories. There is an extensive ongoing effort to raise the technology readiness level of the X-ray mirror from TRL 3 to TRL 6 in the next decade. Improvements have recently been made in the area of positioning and bonding mirrors on the nanometer scale and developing metals and composites with a matching coefficient of thermal expansion to the glass X-ray mirrors. On the mission systems side, the NASA reference design has been through a preliminary coupled loads analysis and a STOP analysis of the flight mirror assembly has been initiated. An impact study was performed comparing launching IXO on an Ariane 5 or a U.S. EELV. This paper will provide a snapshot of NASA's current observatory configuration and summarize the progress of these various technology and design efforts.

Technologies for the fabrication of the E-ELT mirrors within the T-REX project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pareschi, G.; Aliverti, M.; Bianco, A.; Basso, S.; Citterio, O.; Civitani, M.; Ghigo, M.; Pariani, G.; Sironi, G.; Riva, M.; Vecchi, G.; Zerbi, F.

With its primary mirror with 39 m of diameter, the E-ELT will be the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world and will gather 13 times more light than the largest optical telescopes existing today. The different optical sub-systems of E-ELT, including the primary mirror based on hundreds of reflecting tiles assembled together, represent key components for the implementation of the telescopes. A huge amount of aspherical reflecting elements have to be produced with "state of the art" figuring and polishing technologies and measured with proper metrological equipments. In the past couple of years, in the context of the T-REX project, a specific development program was carried out at the Brera Astronomical Observatory-INAF in order to address a numbers of technology aspects related to the fabrication of the E-ELT mirrors. In this paper we give a short overview of the activities that have been carried out. Other papers in this volume report on specific activities that have pursed within such a development program. skip=8pt

Alignment and Distortion-Free Integration of Lightweight Mirrors into Meta-Shells for High-Resolution Astronomical X-Ray Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, Kai-Wing; Zhang, William W.; Schofield, Mark J.; Numata, Ai; Mazzarella, James R.; Saha, Timo T.; Biskach, Michael P.; McCelland, Ryan S.; Niemeyer, Jason; Sharpe, Marton V.;

Generating end plug potentials in tandem mirror plasma confinement by heating thermal particles so as to escape low density end stoppering plasmas

DOEpatents

Baldwin, David E.; Logan, B. Grant

1981-01-01

The invention provides a method and apparatus for raising the potential of a magnetic mirror cell by pumping charged particles of the opposite sign of the potential desired out of the mirror cell through excitation, with the pumping being done by an externally imposed field at the bounce frequency of the above charged particles. These pumped simple mirror cells then provide end stoppering for a center mirror cell for the tandem mirror plasma confinement apparatus. For the substantially complete pumping case, the end plugs of a tandem mirror can be up to two orders of magnitude lower in density for confining a given center mirror cell plasma than in the case of end plugs without pumping. As a result the decrease in recirculating power required to keep the system going, the technological state of the art required, and the capital cost are all greatly lowered.

Development of Individually Addressable Micro-Mirror-Arrays for Space Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dutta, Sanghamitra B.; Ewin, Audrey J.; Jhabvala, Murzy; Kotecki, Carl A.; Kuhn, Jonathan L.; Mott, D. Brent

2000-01-01

We have been developing a 32 x 32 prototype array of individually addressable Micro-Mirrors capable of operating at cryogenic temperature for Earth and Space Science applications. Micro-Mirror-Array technology has the potential to revolutionize imaging and spectroscopy systems for NASA's missions of the 21st century. They can be used as programmable slits for the Next Generation Space Telescope, as smart sensors for a steerable spectrometer, as neutral density filters for bright scene attenuation etc. The, entire fabrication process is carried out in the Detector Development Laboratory at NASA, GSFC. The fabrication process is low temperature compatible and involves integration of conventional CMOS technology and surface micro-machining used in MEMS. Aluminum is used as the mirror material and is built on a silicon substrate containing the CMOS address circuit. The mirrors are 100 microns x l00 microns in area and deflect by +/- 10 deg induced by electrostatic actuation between two parallel plate capacitors. A pair of thin aluminum torsion straps allow the mirrors to tilt. Finite-element-analysis and closed form solutions using electrostatic and mechanical torque for mirror operation were developed and the results were compared with laboratory performance. The results agree well both at room temperature and at cryogenic temperature. The development demonstrates the first cryogenic operation of two-dimensional Micro-Mirrors with bi-state operation. Larger arrays will be developed meeting requirements for different science applications. Theoretical analysis, fabrication process, laboratory test results and different science applications will be described in detail.

High-precision processing and detection of the high-caliber off-axis aspheric mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Chen; Li, Ang; Xu, Lingdi; Zhang, Yingjie

2017-10-01

To achieve the efficient, controllable, digital processing and high-precision detection of the high-caliber off-axis aspheric mirror, meeting the high-level development needs of the modern high-resolution, large field of space optical remote sensing camera, we carried out the research on high precision machining and testing technology of off-axis aspheric mirror. First, we forming the off-axis aspheric sample with diameter of 574mm × 302mm by milling it with milling machine, and then the intelligent robot equipment was used for off-axis aspheric high precision polishing. Surface detection of the sample will be proceed with the off-axis aspheric contact contour detection technology and offaxis non-spherical surface interference detection technology after its fine polishing using ion beam equipment. The final surface accuracy RMS is 12nm.

A Wafer Transfer Technology for MEMS Adaptive Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Eui-Hyeok; Wiberg, Dean V.

2001-01-01

Adaptive optics systems require the combination of several advanced technologies such as precision optics, wavefront sensors, deformable mirrors, and lasers with high-speed control systems. The deformable mirror with a continuous membrane is a key component of these systems. This paper describes a new technique for transferring an entire wafer-level silicon membrane from one substrate to another. This technology is developed for the fabrication of a compact deformable mirror with a continuous facet. A 1 (mu)m thick silicon membrane, 100 mm in diameter, has been successfully transferred without using adhesives or polymers (i.e. wax, epoxy, or photoresist). Smaller or larger diameter membranes can also be transferred using this technique. The fabricated actuator membrane with an electrode gap of 1.5 (mu)m shows a vertical deflection of 0.37 (mu)m at 55 V.

Design and Analysis of Modules for Segmented X-Ray Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClelland, Ryan S.; BIskach, Michael P.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Saha, Timo T; Zhang, William W.

2012-01-01

Future X-ray astronomy missions demand thin, light, and closely packed optics which lend themselves to segmentation of the annular mirrors and, in turn, a modular approach to the mirror design. The modular approach to X-ray Flight Mirror Assembly (FMA) design allows excellent scalability of the mirror technology to support a variety of mission sizes and science objectives. This paper describes FMA designs using slumped glass mirror segments for several X-ray astrophysics missions studied by NASA and explores the driving requirements and subsequent verification tests necessary to qualify a slumped glass mirror module for space-flight. A rigorous testing program is outlined allowing Technical Development Modules to reach technical readiness for mission implementation while reducing mission cost and schedule risk.

Shell Separation for Mirror Replication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery, and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. Optics replication uses reusable forms, called mandrels, to make telescope mirrors ready for final finishing. MSFC optical physicist Bill Jones monitors a device used to chill a mandrel, causing it to shrink and separate from the telescope mirror without deforming the mirror's precisely curved surface.

Design of Efficient Mirror Adder in Quantum- Dot Cellular Automata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Prashant Kumar; Chattopadhyay, Manju K.

2018-03-01

Lower power consumption is an essential demand for portable multimedia system using digital signal processing algorithms and architectures. Quantum dot cellular automata (QCA) is a rising nano technology for the development of high performance ultra-dense low power digital circuits. QCA based several efficient binary and decimal arithmetic circuits are implemented, however important improvements are still possible. This paper demonstrate Mirror Adder circuit design in QCA. We present comparative study of mirror adder cells designed using conventional CMOS technique and mirror adder cells designed using quantum-dot cellular automata. QCA based mirror adders are better in terms of area by order of three.

Space Optic Manufacturing - X-ray Mirror

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. The process allows fabricating precisely shaped mandrels to be used and reused as masters for replicating high-quality mirrors. This image shows a lightweight replicated x-ray mirror with gold coatings applied.

MEMS deformable mirror for wavefront correction of large telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manhart, Sigmund; Vdovin, Gleb; Collings, Neil; Sodnik, Zoran; Nikolov, Susanne; Hupfer, Werner

2017-11-01

A 50 mm diameter membrane mirror was designed and manufactured at TU Delft. It is made from bulk silicon by micromachining - a technology primarily used for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). The mirror unit is equipped with 39 actuator electrodes and can be electrostatically deformed to correct wavefront errors in optical imaging systems. Performance tests on the deformable mirror were carried out at Astrium GmbH using a breadboard setup with a wavefront sensor and a closed-loop control system. It was found that the deformable membrane mirror is well suited for correction of low order wavefront errors as they must be expected in lightweighted space telescopes.

Large Deployable Reflector (LDR) system concept and technology definition study. Volume 2: Technology assessment and technology development plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agnew, Donald L.; Jones, Peter A.

1989-01-01

A study was conducted to define reasonable and representative LDR system concepts for the purpose of defining a technology development program aimed at providing the requisite technological capability necessary to start LDR development by the end of 1991. This volume presents thirteen technology assessments and technology development plans, as well as an overview and summary of the LDR concepts. Twenty-two proposed augmentation projects are described (selected from more than 30 candidates). The five LDR technology areas most in need of supplementary support are: cryogenic cooling; astronaut assembly of the optically precise LDR in space; active segmented primary mirror; dynamic structural control; and primary mirror contamination control. Three broad, time-phased, five-year programs were synthesized from the 22 projects, scheduled, and funding requirements estimated.

Toward Large-Area Sub-Arcsecond X-Ray Telescopes II

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Dell, Stephen L.; Allured, Ryan; Ames, Andrew O.; Biskach, Michael P.; Broadway David M.; Bruni, Ricardo J.; Burrows, David; Cao, Jian; Chalifoux, Brandon D.; Chan, Kai-Wing;

A path planning method used in fluid jet polishing eliminating lightweight mirror imprinting effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wenzong; Fan, Bin; Shi, Chunyan; Wang, Jia; Zhuo, Bin

2014-08-01

With the development of space technology, the design of optical system tends to large aperture lightweight mirror with high dimension-thickness ratio. However, when the lightweight mirror PV value is less than λ/10 , the surface will show wavy imprinting effect obviously. Imprinting effect introduced by head-tool pressure has become a technological barrier in high-precision lightweight mirror manufacturing. Fluid jet polishing can exclude outside pressure. Presently, machining tracks often used are grating type path, screw type path and pseudo-random path. On the edge of imprinting error, the speed of adjacent path points changes too fast, which causes the machine hard to reflect quickly, brings about new path error, and increases the polishing time due to superfluous path. This paper presents a new planning path method to eliminate imprinting effect. Simulation results show that the path of the improved grating path can better eliminate imprinting effect compared to the general path.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-01

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery, and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. The process allows fabricating precisely shaped mandrels to be used and reused as masters for replicating high-quality mirrors. MSFC's Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center (SOMTC) has grinding and polishing equipment ranging from conventional spindles to custom-designed polishers. These capabilities allow us to grind precisely and polish a variety of optical devices, including x-ray mirror mandrels. This image shows Charlie Griffith polishing the half-meter mandrel at SOMTC.

Manufacture of a 1.7m prototype of the GMT primary mirror segments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, H. M.; Burge, J. H.; Miller, S. M.; Smith, B. K.; Zehnder, R.; Zhao, C.

2006-06-01

We have nearly completed the manufacture of a 1.7 m off-axis mirror as part of the technology development for the Giant Magellan Telescope. The mirror is an off-axis section of a 5.3 m f/0.73 parent paraboloid, making it roughly a 1:5 model of the outer 8.4 m GMT segment. The 1.7 m mirror will be the primary mirror of the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory. It has a 2.7 mm peak-to-valley departure from the best-fit sphere, presenting a serious challenge in terms of both polishing and measurement. The mirror was polished with a stressed lap, which bends actively to match the local curvature at each point on the mirror surface, and works for asymmetric mirrors as well as symmetric aspheres. It was measured using a hybrid reflective-diffractive null corrector to compensate for the mirror's asphericity. Both techniques will be applied in scaled-up versions to the GMT segments.

JPRS Report, Science & Technology Europe

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-07-27

materials research under microgravity conditions, such as ELLI, AMF of MHF ( Mirror Heating Facility) the Zone Melt- ing Furnace is a resistance-heated...pendently controlled zones. This is another advantage of a resistance-heated furnace over a mirror heating facil- ity. When the experiment requires a...zone, the subdivision into several heating zones will be preferable to the single light focus of a mirror heating facility. In 1987/88, following

IR Spectrometer Using 90-Degree Off-Axis Parabolic Mirrors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert M. Malone, Ian J. McKenna

2008-03-01

A gated spectrometer has been designed for real-time, pulsed infrared (IR) studies at the National Synchrotron Light Source at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. A pair of 90-degree, off-axis parabolic mirrors are used to relay the light from an entrance slit to an output recording camera. With an initial wavelength range of 1500–4500 nm required, gratings could not be used in the spectrometer because grating orders would overlap. A magnesium oxide prism, placed between these parabolic mirrors, serves as the dispersion element. The spectrometer is doubly telecentric. With proper choice of the air spacing between the prism and the second parabolicmore » mirror, any spectral region of interest within the InSb camera array’s sensitivity region can be recorded. The wavelengths leaving the second parabolic mirror are collimated, thereby relaxing the camera positioning tolerance. To set up the instrument, two different wavelength (visible) lasers are introduced at the entrance slit and made collinear with the optical axis via flip mirrors. After dispersion by the prism, these two laser beams are directed to tick marks located on the outside housing of the gated IR camera. This provides first-order wavelength calibration for the instrument. Light that is reflected off the front prism face is coupled into a high-speed detector to verify steady radiance during the gated spectral imaging. Alignment features include tick marks on the prism and parabolic mirrors. This instrument was designed to complement single-point pyrometry, which provides continuous time histories of a small collection of spots from shock-heated targets.« less

IR Spectrometer Using 90-degree Off-axis Parabolic Mirrors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert M. Malone, Richard, G. Hacking, Ian J. McKenna, and Daniel H. Dolan

2008-09-02

A gated spectrometer has been designed for real-time, pulsed infrared (IR) studies at the National Synchrotron Light ource at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. A pair of 90-degree, off-axis parabolic mirrors are used to relay the light from an entrance slit to an output IR recording camera. With an initial wavelength range of 1500–4500 nm required, gratings could not be used in the spectrometer because grating orders would overlap. A magnesium oxide prism, placed between these parabolic mirrors, serves as the dispersion element. The spectrometer is doubly telecentric. With proper choice of the air spacing between the prism and the secondmore » parabolic mirror, any spectral region of interest within the InSb camera array’s sensitivity region can be recorded. The wavelengths leaving the second parabolic mirror are collimated, thereby relaxing the camera positioning tolerance. To set up the instrument, two different wavelength (visible) lasers are introduced at the entrance slit and made collinear with the optical axis via flip mirrors. After dispersion by the prism, these two laser beams are directed to tick marks located on the outside housing of the gated IR camera. This provides first-order wavelength calibration for the instrument. Light that is reflected off the front prism face is coupled into a high-speed detector to verify steady radiance during the gated spectral imaging. Alignment features include tick marks on the prism and parabolic mirrors. This instrument was designed to complement singlepoint pyrometry, which provides continuous time histories of a small collection of spots from shock-heated targets.« less

SOFIA secondary mirror Hindle test analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Paul K.

2003-02-01

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a NASA facility, nearing completion, consisting of an infrared telescope of 2.5 meter system aperture flying in a modified Boeing 747. Its Cassegrain secondary mirror has recently completed polishing. The SOFIA Project Office at Ames Research Center considered it important to perform an independent analysis of secondary mirror figure. The polishing was controlled by the standard test for a convex hyperboloid, the Hindle test, in a modified form with a meniscus lens partially reflecting on the concave face, rather than a fully reflecting mirror with a central hole. The spacing between this meniscus lens and the secondary mirror was controlled by three peripherally located spacing spheres. This necessitated special analysis to determine what the resulting curvature and conic constant of the mirror would be, if manufacturing imprecisions of the test set-up components were to be taken into account. This set-up was specially programmed, and the resulting hyperboloid calculated for the nominal case, and all extreme cases from the reported error limits on the manufacturing of the components. The results were then verified using the standard program CODE-V of Optical Research Associates. The conclusion is that the secondary mirror has a vertex radius of curvature of 954.05 mm +/- .1 mm (design value: 954.13), and a conic constant of -1.2965 +/- .001 (dimensionless, design value: -1.298). Such small divergences from design are to be expected, and these are within the refocusing ability of SOFIA, and would result in an acceptably small amount of spherical aberration in the image.

Engineering Specification for Large-aperture UVO Space Telescopes Derived from Science Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Postman, Marc; Smith, W. Scott

2013-01-01

The Advance Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is a three year effort initiated in FY12 to mature by at least a half TRL step six critical technologies required to enable 4 to 8 meter UVOIR space telescope primary mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND result in a high-performance low-cost low-risk system. To provide the science community with options, we are pursuing multiple technology paths. We have assembled an outstanding team from academia, industry, and government with extensive expertise in astrophysics and exoplanet characterization, and in the design/manufacture of monolithic and segmented space telescopes. A key accomplishment is deriving engineering specifications for advanced normal-incidence monolithic and segmented mirror systems needed to enable both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets missions as a function of potential launch vehicles and their mass and volume constraints.

AMTD: update of engineering specifications derived from science requirements for future UVOIR space telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Postman, Marc; Mosier, Gary; Smith, W. Scott; Blaurock, Carl; Ha, Kong; Stark, Christopher C.

2014-08-01

The Advance Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in Phase 2 of a multiyear effort, initiated in FY12, to mature by at least a half TRL step six critical technologies required to enable 4 meter or larger UVOIR space telescope primary mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND provide a high-performance low-cost low-risk system. To give the science community options, we are pursuing multiple technology paths. A key task is deriving engineering specifications for advanced normal-incidence monolithic and segmented mirror systems needed to enable both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets missions as a function of potential launch vehicles and their mass and volume constraints. A key finding of this effort is that the science requires an 8 meter or larger aperture telescope.

AMTD: Update of Engineering Specifications Derived from Science Requirements for Future UVOIR Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Postman, Marc; Mosier, Gary; Smith, W. Scott; Blaurock, Carl; Ha, Kong; Stark, Christopher C.

2014-01-01

The Advance Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is in Phase 2 of a multiyear effort, initiated in FY12, to mature by at least a half TRL step six critical technologies required to enable 4 meter or larger UVOIR space telescope primary mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. AMTD uses a science-driven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND provide a high-performance low-cost low-risk system. To give the science community options, we are pursuing multiple technology paths. A key task is deriving engineering specifications for advanced normal-incidence monolithic and segmented mirror systems needed to enable both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets missions as a function of potential launch vehicles and their mass and volume constraints. A key finding of this effort is that the science requires an 8 meter or larger aperture telescope

Next Generation Space Telescope Ultra-Lightweight Mirror Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bilbro, James W.

1998-01-01

The Next Generation Space Telescope is currently envisioned as a eight meter diameter cryogenic deployable telescope that will operate at the earth sun libration point L2. A number of different designs are being examined within NASA and under industry studies by Ball Aerospace, Lockheed-Martin and TRW. Although these designs differ in many respects, they all require significant advancements in the state-of-the-art with respect to large diameter, ultra-lightweight, mirrors. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the current status of the mirror development program NGST is a tremendously ambitious undertaking that sets the mark for new NASA missions. In order to achieve the weight, cost and performance requirements of NGST, the primary mirror must be made lighter, cheaper and better than anything that has ever been done. In order to accomplish this an aggressive technology program has been put in place. The scope of the program was determined by examining historically what has been accomplished; assessing recent technological advances in fabrication and testing; and evaluating the effect of these advances relative to enabling the manufacture of lightweight mirrors that meet NGST requirements. As it is currently envisioned, the primary mirror for NGST is on the order of eight meters in diameter, it is to be diffraction limited at a wave length of 2 microns and has an overall weight requirement of 15 kilograms per square meter. Two large scale demonstration projects are under way along with a number of smaller scale demonstrations on a variety of mirror materials and concepts. The University of Arizona (UA) mirror concept is based around a 2mm thick Borosilicate glass face sheet mounted to a composite backplane structure via actuators for mirror figure correction. The Composite Optics Inc.(COI) concept consists of a 3.2mm thick Zerodur face sheet bonded to a composite support structure which in turn is mounted to a composite backplane structure via actuators for mirror phasing. These mirrors are due to be performance tested in ambient conditions in the fall of '98, and cryogenically tested in the spring of '99. The smaller scale efforts include the following: Beryllium is being investigated at Ball Aerospace, Electroform nickel is being investigated in-house at MSFC, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Silicon Carbide (SiC) is being investigated at Morton International Silicon mirrors are being investigated at Schafer, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Silicon Carbide (CSIC) is being investigated at IABG. SiC at SSG, Composite mirrors at COI, pyrolyzed graphite mirrors at Ultramet, reaction bonded SiC mirrors at Xinetics, along with techniques for lightweighting using waterjets at Waterjet Technology Inc. are all being investigated under the Small Business innovative Research Program SBIR program. A procurement for a third large scale demonstration (nominally 1.5m in diameter) is being planned for release this fall.

Thermal Testing of a Stacked Core Mirror for UV Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Gary; Kirk, Charles S.; Maffett, Steven; Hanson, Craig; Eng, Ron; Stahl, H. Philip

2013-01-01

The ASTRO2010 Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. Under Science and Technology funding, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and ITT Exelis have developed a more cost effective process to make 4m monolithic spaceflight UV quality, low areal density, thermally and dynamically stable primary mirrors. A proof of concept mirror was built and tested down to 250K which would allow imaging out to 2.5 microns. This mirror was thermally tested at the Marshall Spaceflight Center to understand the thermal changes between the processing temperature of 293K and the potential low end of the operational temperature of 250K. Isothermal testing results and front plate gradient results have been evaluated and compared to analysis predictions. Measurement of gravity effects on surface figure will be compared to analytical predictions. Future testing of a larger Pathfinder mirror will also be discussed.

Mass production of silicon pore optics for ATHENA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wille, Eric; Bavdaz, Marcos; Collon, Maximilien

2016-07-01

Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) provide high angular resolution with low effective area density as required for the Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena). The x-ray telescope consists of several hundreds of SPO mirror modules. During the development of the process steps of the SPO technology, specific requirements of a future mass production have been considered right from the beginning. The manufacturing methods heavily utilise off-the-shelf equipment from the semiconductor industry, robotic automation and parallel processing. This allows to upscale the present production flow in a cost effective way, to produce hundreds of mirror modules per year. Considering manufacturing predictions based on the current technology status, we present an analysis of the time and resources required for the Athena flight programme. This includes the full production process starting with Si wafers up to the integration of the mirror modules. We present the times required for the individual process steps and identify the equipment required to produce two mirror modules per day. A preliminary timeline for building and commissioning the required infrastructure, and for flight model production of about 1000 mirror modules, is presented.

Hi-speed compact deformable mirror: status, applications, and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rooms, F.; Camet, S.; Curis, J.-F.

2010-02-01

Membrane deformable mirrors based on magnetic actuators have been known for years. State-of-the-art deformable mirrors usually have large strokes but low bandwidth. Furthermore, this bandwidth decreases with the diameter. In this paper, we present the results of a new actuator principle based on magnetic forces allowing high bandwidth (up to a few kHz), very large stroke (>30μm) with a record pitch of 1.5mm. The benefits of this technology will be presented for three applications: astronomy, vision science and microscopy. The parameters of the mirrors have been tuned such that the inter-actuator stroke of the deformable (more than 2.0μm) in order to fit the atmosphere turbulence characteristics. In vision science, efforts have been made to correct both simultaneously the low and high order aberrations (more than 45μm of wavefront correction on astigmatism and focus). Finally, we will demonstrate how we have developed a deformable mirror able to correct spherical aberrations (microscopy). The last part of the article is devoted to give some perspectives about this technology.

Pixel switching of epitaxial Pd/YHx/CaF2 switchable mirrors

PubMed

Kerssemakers; van der Molen SJ; Koeman; Gunther; Griessen

2000-08-03

Exposure of rare-earth films to hydrogen can induce a metal-insulator transition, accompanied by pronounced optical changes. This 'switchable mirror' effect has received considerable attention from theoretical, experimental and technological points of view. Most systems use polycrystalline films, but the synthesis of yttrium-based epitaxial switchable mirrors has also been reported. The latter form an extended self-organized ridge network during initial hydrogen loading, which results in the creation of micrometre-sized triangular domains. Here we observe homogeneous and essentially independent optical switching of individual domains in epitaxial switchable mirrors during hydrogen absorption. The optical switching is accompanied by topographical changes as the domains sequentially expand and contract; the ridges block lateral hydrogen diffusion and serve as a microscopic lubricant for the domain oscillations. We observe the correlated changes in topology and optical properties using in situ atomic force and optical microscopy. Single-domain phase switching is not observed in polycrystalline films, which are optically homogeneous. The ability to generate a tunable, dense pattern of switchable pixels is of technological relevance for solid-state displays based on switchable mirrors.

First results of the wind evaluation breadboard for ELT primary mirror design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyes García-Talavera, Marcos; Viera, Teodora; Núñez, Miguel

2010-07-01

The Wind Evaluation Breadboard (WEB) is a primary mirror and telescope simulator formed by seven aluminium segments, including position sensors, electromechanical support systems and support structures. WEB has been developed to evaluate technologies for primary mirror wavefront control and to evaluate the performance of the control of wind buffeting disturbance on ELT segmented mirrors. For this purpose WEB electro-mechanical set-up simulates the real operational constrains applied to large segmented mirrors. This paper describes the WEB assembly, integration and verification, the instrument characterisation and close loop control design, including the dynamical characterization of the instrument and the control architecture. The performance of the new technologies developed for position sensing, acting and controlling is evaluated. The integration of the instrument in the observatory and the results of the first experiments are summarised, with different wind conditions, elevation and azimuth angles of incidence. Conclusions are extracted with respect the wind rejection performance and the control strategy for an ELT. WEB has been designed and developed by IAC, ESO, ALTRAN and JUPASA, with the integration of subsystems of FOGALE and TNO.

On-orbit figure sensing and figure correction control for 0.5 arc-second adjustable X-ray optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reid, Paul

This investigation seeks to develop the technology to directly monitor on-orbit changes to imaging performance of adjustable X-ray optics so as to be able to efficiently correct adverse changes at a level consistent with 0.5 arc-second X-ray telescope imaging. Adjustable X-ray optics employ thin film piezoelectric material deposited on the back of a thin glass Wolter mirror segment to introduce localized stresses in the mirror. These stresses are used in a deterministic way to improve mirror figure from 10 arc-sec, half power diameter (HPD), to 0.5 arc-sec, HPD, without the need for a heavy reaction structure. This is a realizable technology for potential future X-ray telescope missions with 0.5 arc-second resolution and several square meters effective area, such as SMART-X. We are pursuing such mirror development under an existing APRA grant. Here we propose a new investigation to accomplish the monitoring and control of the mirrors by monitoring the health of the piezoelectric actuators of the adjustable optics to a level consistent with 0.5 arcsec imaging. Such measurements are beyond the capability of conventional, thin metal film strain gauges using DC measurements. Instead, we propose to develop the technology to deposit different types of strain gauges (metal film, semiconductor) directly on the piezoelectric cells; to investigate the use of additional thin layers of piezoelectric materials such as lead zirconate titanate or zinc oxide as strain and temperature gauges; and to use AC measurement of strain gauges for precise measurement of piezoelectric adjuster performance. The intent is to use this information to correct changes in mirror shape by adjusting the voltages on the piezoelectric adjustors. Adjustable X-ray optics are designed to meet the challenge of large collecting area and high angular resolution. The mirrors are called adjustable rather than active as mirror figure error is corrected (adjusted) once or infrequently, as opposed to being changed constantly at several cycles/sec (active). In our approach, the mirror figure is corrected based on ground measurements, accounting for figure errors due to mirror manufacturing, mounting induced deformations, modeled gravity release, and modeled on-orbit thermal effects. The piezoelectric strain monitoring we seek to develop in this program extends adjustable mirror technology development, as it enables efficient adjustment and correction of mirror figure on-orbit, as required. This unprecedented level of system robustness will make telescopes less expensive to build because requirements for the non-optical systems can be looser, and it will also make the system more resistant to degradation, promoting mission success. The largest drivers for changes from ground calibration to on-orbit performance are piezoelectric material aging and an unexpected thermal environment (i.e., larger gradients than modeled or other thermal control system problem). Developing the capability to accurately monitor the health of each piezoelectric cell and the local mirror surface temperature will enable the real time sensing of any of these potential issues, help determine the cause, and enable corrections via updating models of on-orbit conditions and re-optimizing the required piezoelectric cell voltages for mirror figure correction. Our 3 year research program includes the development of the strain monitoring technology, its deposition on the adjustable optics, modeling and performance simulation, accelerated lifetime testing, and optical and electrical metrology of sample adjustable optics that incorporate monitoring sensors. Development of the capability to remotely monitor piezo performance and temperature to necessary precision will vastly improve reliability of the SMART-X mission concept, or the sub-arc-second X-ray Surveyor mission described in the 2013 NASA Astrophysics Roadmap, Enduring Quests Daring Visions.

JWST Mirror Technology Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2010-01-01

Since the initial Design Studies leading to JWST, Mirror Technology was identified as a (if not the) critical capability necessary to enable the next generation of large aperture space telescopes required to achieve the science goals of imaging the earliest galaxies and proto-galaxies after the big bang. Specific telescope architectures were explored via three independent design concept studies conducted during the summer of 1996. Achieving the desired science objectives required a never before demonstrated space telescope capability, one with an 8 meter class primary mirror that is diffraction limited at 2 micrometers and operating in deep space at temperatures well below 70K. Beryllium was identified in the NASA "Yardstick" design as the preferred material because of its ability to provide stable optical performance in the anticipated thermal environment as well as its excellent specific stiffness. Because of launch vehicle constraints, two very significant architectural constraints were placed upon the telescope: segmentation and areal density. Each of these directly resulted in specific technology capability requirements. First, because the maximum launch vehicle payload fairing diameter is approximately 4.5 meters, the only way to launch an 8 meter class mirror is to segment it, fold it and deploy it on orbit - resulting in actuation and control requirements. Second, because of launch vehicle mass limits, the primary mirror allocation was only 1000 kg - resulting in a maximum areal density specification of 20 kilograms per square meter.

Heliostat for astronomical usage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heyde, G.

1979-01-01

The design of a heliostat is presented. The invention consists of a mechanical polar axis which can rotate and which is parallel to the world axis. A mirror is supported in such a way that it can be rotated arbitrarily around a declination axis which is perpendicular to it. After execution of this rotation, the mirror can be clamped in the plane of the world axis, which can be corrected and verified by special collimation directions. The clockwork or drive unit can be driven for a 24 or 48 hour complete rotation of the axis using any known device such as switchable gears, without changing its regular variation related to stellar time or mean solar time.

In Situ Metrology for the Corrective Polishing of Replicating Mandrels

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-08

distribution is unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Presented at Mirror Technology Days, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 7-9 June 2010. 14...ABSTRACT The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) will require mandrel metrology with extremely tight tolerances on mirrors with up to 1.6 meter radii...ideal. Error budgets for the IXO mirror segments are presented. A potential solution is presented that uses a voice-coil controlled gauging head, air

Advanced UVOIR Mirror Technology Development for Very Large Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2011-01-01

Objective of this work is to define and initiate a long-term program to mature six inter-linked critical technologies for future UVOIR space telescope mirrors to TRL6 by 2018 so that a viable flight mission can be proposed to the 2020 Decadal Review. (1) Large-Aperture, Low Areal Density, High Stiffness Mirrors: 4 to 8 m monolithic & 8 to 16 m segmented primary mirrors require larger, thicker, stiffer substrates. (2) Support System:Large-aperture mirrors require large support systems to ensure that they survive launch and deploy on orbit in a stress-free and undistorted shape. (3) Mid/High Spatial Frequency Figure Error:A very smooth mirror is critical for producing a high-quality point spread function (PSF) for high-contrast imaging. (4) Segment Edges:Edges impact PSF for high-contrast imaging applications, contributes to stray light noise, and affects the total collecting aperture. (5) Segment-to-Segment Gap Phasing:Segment phasing is critical for producing a high-quality temporally stable PSF. (6) Integrated Model Validation:On-orbit performance is determined by mechanical and thermal stability. Future systems require validated performance models. We are pursuing multiple design paths give the science community the option to enable either a future monolithic or segmented space telescope.

Opto-Mechanical Analyses for Performance Optimization of Lightweight Grazing-Incidence Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roche, Jacqueline; Kolodziejczak, Jeff; Odell, Steve; Eisner, Ronald; Ramsey, Brian; Gubarev, Mikhail

2013-01-01

New technology in grazing-incidence mirror fabrication and assembly is necessary to achieve sub-arcsecond optics for large-area x-ray telescopes. In order to define specifications, an understanding of performance sensitivity to design parameters is crucial. MSFC is undertaking a systematic study to specify a mounting approach, mirror substrate, and testing method. Because the lightweight mirrors are typically flimsy, they are susceptible to significant distortion due to mounting and gravitational forces. Material properties of the mirror substrate along with its thickness and dimensions significantly affect the distortions caused by mounting and gravity. A parametric study of these properties and their relationship to mounting and testing schemes will indicate specifications for the design of the next generation of lightweight grazing-incidence mirrors. Initial results will be reported.

Opto-mechanical Analyses for Performance Optimization of Lightweight Grazing-incidence Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roche, Jacqueline M.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Odell, Stephen L.; Elsner, Ronald F.; Weisskopf, Martin C.; Ramsey, Brian; Gubarev, Mikhail V.

2013-01-01

New technology in grazing-incidence mirror fabrication and assembly is necessary to achieve subarcsecond optics for large-area x-ray telescopes. In order to define specifications, an understanding of performance sensitivity to design parameters is crucial. MSFC is undertaking a systematic study to specify a mounting approach, mirror substrate, and testing method. Lightweight mirrors are typically flimsy and are, therefore, susceptible to significant distortion due to mounting and gravitational forces. Material properties of the mirror substrate along with its dimensions significantly affect the distortions caused by mounting and gravity. A parametric study of these properties and their relationship to mounting and testing schemes will indicate specifications for the design of the next generation of lightweight grazing-incidence mirrors. Here we report initial results of this study.

Opto-mechanical Analyses for Performance Optimization of Lightweight Grazing-incidence Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roche, Jacqueline; Kolodsiejczak, Jeffrey; Odell, Stephen; Elsner, Ronald; Weisskopf, Martin; Ramsey, Brian; Gubarev, Mikhail

2013-01-01

New technology in grazing-incidence mirror fabrication and assembly is necessary to achieve sub-arcsecond optics for large-area x-ray telescopes. In order to define specifications, an understanding of performance sensitivity to design parameters is crucial. MSFC is undertaking a systematic study to specify a mounting approach, mirror substrate, and testing method. Because the lightweight mirrors are typically flimsy, they are susceptible to significant distortion due to mounting and gravitational forces. Material properties of the mirror substrate along with its thickness and dimensions significantly affect the distortions caused by mounting and gravity. A parametric study of these properties and their relationship to mounting and testing schemes will indicate specifications for the design of the next generation of lightweight grazing-incidence mirrors. Initial results will be reported.

Figure and Dimension Metrology of Extremely Lightweight X-Ray Mirrors for Space Astronomy Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, William W.

2010-01-01

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is the next major space X-ray observatory, performing both imaging and spectroscopic studies of all kinds of objects in the Universe. It is a collaborative mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States, the European Space Agency, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. It is to be launched into a Sun-Earth L2 orbit in 2021. One of the most challenging aspects of the mission is the construction of a flight mirror assembly capable focusing X-rays in the band of 0.1 to 40 keY with an angular resolution of better than 5 arc-seconds and with an effective collection area of more than 3 sq m. The mirror assembly will consist of approximately 15,000 parabolic and hyperbolic mirror segments, each of which is approximately 200mm by 300mm with a thickness of 0.4mm. The manufacture and qualification of these mirror segments and their integration into the giant mirror assembly have been the objectives of a vigorous technology development program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Each of these mirror segments needs to be measured and qualified for both optical figure and mechanical dimensions. In this talk, I will describe the technology program with a particular emphasis on a measurement system we are developing to meet those requirements, including the use of coordinate measuring machines, Fizeau interferometers, and custom-designed, and -built null lens. This system is capable of measuring highly off-axis aspherical or cylindrical mirrors with repeatability, accuracy, and speed.

WFXT Technology Overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pareschi, G.; Campana, S.

The Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WFXT) is a medium class mission for X-ray surveys of the sky with an unprecedented area and sensitivity. In order to meet the effective area requirement, the design of the optical system is based on very thin mirror shells, with thicknesses in the 1-2 mm range. In order to get the desired angular resolution (10 arcsec requirement, 5 arcsec goal) across the entire 1× 1 degree FOV (Field Of View), the design of the optical system is based on nested modified grazing incidence Wolter-I mirrors realized with polynomial profiles, focal plane curvature and plate scale corrections. This design guarantees an increased angular resolution at large off-axis angle with respect to the normally used Wolter I configuration, making WFXT ideal for survey purposes. The WFXT X-ray Telescope Assembly is composed by three identical mirror modules of 78 nested shells each, with diameter up to 1.1 m. The epoxy replication process with SiC shells has already been proved to be a valuable technology to meet the angular resolution requirement of 10 arcsec. To further mature the telescope manufacturing technology and to achieve the goal of 5 arcsec, we are considering different materials for the mirror shells with particular care to quartz glass (fused silica), a well-known material with good thermo-mechanical and polishability characteristics that could meet our goal in terms of mass and stiffness, with significant cost and time saving with respect to SiC. To bring the mirror shells to the needed accuracy a deterministic direct polishing method for the mirror shells is under investigation. A direct polishing method has already been used for past missions (as Einstein, Rosat, Chandra): the technological challenge now is to apply it for almost ten times thinner shells. Our approach is based on two main steps: first quartz glass tubes available on the market are grinded to conical profiles, and second the obtained shells are polished to the required polynomial profiles by Computer Numerical Control (CNC) polishing machine.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PHYSICS AND RELATED AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Surface Micromachined Adjustable Micro-Concave Mirror for Bio-Detection Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuo, Ju-Nan; Chen, Wei-Lun; Jywe, Wen-Yuh

2009-08-01

We present a bio-detection system integrated with an adjustable micro-concave mirror. The bio-detection system consists of an adjustable micro-concave mirror, micro flow cytometer chip and optical detection module. The adjustable micro-concave mirror can be fabricated with ease using commercially available MEMS foundry services (such as multiuser MEMS processes, MUMPs) and its curvature can be controlled utilizing thermal or electrical effects. Experimental results show that focal lengths of the micro-concave mirror ranging from 313.5 to 2275.0 μm are achieved. The adjustable micro-concave mirror can be used to increase the efficiency of optical detection and provide a high signal-to-noise ratio. The developed micro-concave mirror is integrated with a micro flow cytometer for cell counting applications. Successful counting of fluorescent-labeled beads is demonstrated using the developed method.

Application of neuroscience to technology in stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Burns, Martha S

2008-01-01

The past decade has seen remarkable advances in our understanding of mechanisms that drive functional neuroplastic change after brain injury and the mirror neuron system that appears essential for language learning and communicative interaction. This article describes five neuroscience-based interventions available for clinical practice, with a discussion of the potential value of mirror neurons in stroke rehabilitation. Case-study data on three adults with aphasia who received various combinations of neuroscience-derived technological interventions are provided to inform the clinician of the potential advantages of technology as an adjunct to, not a substitution for, conventional therapeutic intervention.

Active Optical Zoom for Tracking

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

optical system. 2. Current Setup Deformable Flat Two Deformable Flat Figure 1. Zemax lens design layout and experimental layout on the...optical bench. Figure 1 is a ZEMAX design and setup on the optical bench of two Deformable Mirrors (DMs) from OKO technologies. These mirrors have

Research Technology

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-05-12

The Gasdynamic Mirror, or GDM, is an example of a magnetic mirror-based fusion propulsion system. Its design is primarily consisting of a long slender solenoid surrounding a vacuum chamber that contains plasma. The bulk of the fusion plasma is confined by magnetic field generated by a series of toroidal-shaped magnets in the center section of the device. the purpose of the GDM Fusion Propulsion Experiment is to confirm the feasibility of the concept and to demonstrate many of the operational characteristics of a full-size plasma can be confined within the desired physical configuration and still reman stable. This image shows an engineer from Propulsion Research Technologies Division at Marshall Space Flight Center inspecting solenoid magnets-A, an integrate part of the Gasdynamic Mirror Fusion Propulsion Engine Experiment.

Space Optics for the 21st Century

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bilbro, James W.

2006-01-01

Technological advances over the last decade in metrology, fabrication techniques and materials have made a significant impact on spacebased astronomy and together with advances in adaptive optics offer the opportunity for even more radical changes in the future. The Hubble Space Telescope primary mirror is 2.4 meters in diameter and weighs on the order of 150 kilograms per square meter. The technology demonstration mirrors developed for the James Webb Telescope had an order of magnitude less in area density and developments in membrane optics offer the opportunity to achieve another order of magnitude decrease. Similar advances in mirrors for x-ray astronomy means that across the spectrum future space based telescopes will have greater and greater collecting areas with ever increasing resolution.

James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element Mirror Development History and Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feinber, Lee D.; Clampin, Mark; Keski-Kuha, Ritva; Atkinson, Charlie; Texter, Scott; Bergeland, Mark; Gallagher, Benjamin B.

2012-01-01

In a little under a decade, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program has designed, manufactured, assembled and tested 21 flight beryllium mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element. This paper will summarize the mirror development history starting with the selection of beryllium as the mirror material and ending with the final test results. It will provide an overview of the technological roadmap and schedules and the key challenges that were overcome. It will also provide a summary or the key tests that were performed and the results of these tests.

Optical levitation of a mirror for reaching the standard quantum limit.

PubMed

Michimura, Yuta; Kuwahara, Yuya; Ushiba, Takafumi; Matsumoto, Nobuyuki; Ando, Masaki

2017-06-12

We propose a new method to optically levitate a macroscopic mirror with two vertical Fabry-Pérot cavities linearly aligned. This configuration gives the simplest possible optical levitation in which the number of laser beams used is the minimum of two. We demonstrate that reaching the standard quantum limit (SQL) of a displacement measurement with our system is feasible with current technology. The cavity geometry and the levitated mirror parameters are designed to ensure that the Brownian vibration of the mirror surface is smaller than the SQL. Our scheme provides a promising tool for testing macroscopic quantum mechanics.

Optical levitation of a mirror for reaching the standard quantum limit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michimura, Yuta; Kuwahara, Yuya; Ushiba, Takafumi; Matsumoto, Nobuyuki; Ando, Masaki

2017-06-01

We propose a new method to optically levitate a macroscopic mirror with two vertical Fabry-P{\\'e}rot cavities linearly aligned. This configuration gives the simplest possible optical levitation in which the number of laser beams used is the minimum of two. We demonstrate that reaching the standard quantum limit (SQL) of a displacement measurement with our system is feasible with current technology. The cavity geometry and the levitated mirror parameters are designed to ensure that the Brownian vibration of the mirror surface is smaller than the SQL. Our scheme provides a promising tool for testing macroscopic quantum mechanics.

CVD SiC deformable mirror with monolithic cooling channels.

PubMed

Ahn, Kyohoon; Rhee, Hyug-Gyo; Yang, Ho-Soon; Kihm, Hagyong

2018-04-16

We propose a novel deformable mirror (DM) for adaptive optics in high power laser applications. The mirror is made of a Silicon carbide (SiC) faceplate, and cooling channels are embedded monolithically inside the faceplate with the chemical vapor desposition (CVD) method. The faceplate is 200 mm in diameter and 3 mm in thickness, and is actuated by 137 stack-type piezoelectric transducers arranged in a square grid. We also propose a new actuator influence function optimized for modelling our DM, which has a relatively stiffer faceplate and a higher coupling ratio compared with other DMs having thin faceplates. The cooling capability and optical performance of the DM are verified by simulations and actual experiments with a heat source. The DM is proved to operate at 1 kHz without the coolant flow and 100 Hz with the coolant flow, and the residual errors after compensation are less than 30 nm rms (root-mean-square). This paper presents the design, fabrication, and optical performance of the CVD SiC DM.

High-precision {beta} decay half-life measurements of proton-rich nuclei for testing the CVC hypothesis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kurtukian-Nieto, T.; Collaboration: NEX Group of CENBG

2011-11-30

The experimental study of super-allowed nuclear {beta} decays serves as a sensitive probe of the conservation of the weak vector current (CVC) and allows tight limits to be set on the presence of scalar or right-handed currents. Once CVC is verified, it is possible to determine the V{sub ud} element of the CKM quark-mixing matrix. Similarly, the study of nuclear mirror {beta} decays allows to arrive at the same final quantity V{sub ud}. Whereas dedicated studies of 0{sup +}{yields}0{sup +} decays are performed for several decades now, the potential of mirror transitions was only rediscovered recently. Therefore, it can bemore » expected that important progress is possible with high-precision studies of different mirror {beta} decays. In the present piece of work the half-life measurements performed by the CENBG group of the proton-rich nuclei {sup 42}Ti, {sup 38-39}Ca, {sup 30-31}S and {sup 29}P are summarised.« less

By the Dozen: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Mirrors

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

A view of the one dozen (out of 18) flight mirror segments that make up the primary mirror on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have been installed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn More: Since December 2015, the team of scientists and engineers have been working tirelessly to install all the primary mirror segments onto the telescope structure in the large clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The twelfth mirror was installed on January 2, 2016. "This milestone signifies that all of the hexagonal shaped mirrors on the fixed central section of the telescope structure are installed and only the 3 mirrors on each wing are left for installation," said Lee Feinberg, NASA's Optical Telescope Element Manager at NASA Goddard. "The incredibly skilled and dedicated team assembling the telescope continues to find ways to do things faster and more efficiently." Each hexagonal-shaped segment measures just over 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) across and weighs approximately 88 pounds (40 kilograms). After being pieced together, the 18 primary mirror segments will work together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) mirror. The primary mirror will unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. The mirrors are placed on the telescope's backplane using a robotic arm, guided by engineers. The full installation is expected to be completed in a few months. The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. The installation of the mirrors onto the telescope structure is performed by Harris Corporation of Rochester, New York. Harris Corporation leads integration and testing for the telescope. While the mirror assembly is a very significant milestone, there are many more steps involved in assembling the Webb telescope. The primary mirror and the tennis-court-sized sunshield are the largest and most visible components of the Webb telescope. However, there are four smaller components that are less visible, yet critical. The instruments that will fly aboard Webb - cameras and spectrographs with detectors able to record extremely faint signals — are part of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), which is currently undergoing its final cryogenic vacuum test and will be integrated with the mirror later this year. Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/by-the-dozen-nasas-jame... NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

By the Dozen: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Mirrors

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-07

Caption: One dozen (out of 18) flight mirror segments that make up the primary mirror on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have been installed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn More: Since December 2015, the team of scientists and engineers have been working tirelessly to install all the primary mirror segments onto the telescope structure in the large clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The twelfth mirror was installed on January 2, 2016. "This milestone signifies that all of the hexagonal shaped mirrors on the fixed central section of the telescope structure are installed and only the 3 mirrors on each wing are left for installation," said Lee Feinberg, NASA's Optical Telescope Element Manager at NASA Goddard. "The incredibly skilled and dedicated team assembling the telescope continues to find ways to do things faster and more efficiently." Each hexagonal-shaped segment measures just over 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) across and weighs approximately 88 pounds (40 kilograms). After being pieced together, the 18 primary mirror segments will work together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) mirror. The primary mirror will unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. The mirrors are placed on the telescope's backplane using a robotic arm, guided by engineers. The full installation is expected to be completed in a few months. The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. The installation of the mirrors onto the telescope structure is performed by Harris Corporation of Rochester, New York. Harris Corporation leads integration and testing for the telescope. While the mirror assembly is a very significant milestone, there are many more steps involved in assembling the Webb telescope. The primary mirror and the tennis-court-sized sunshield are the largest and most visible components of the Webb telescope. However, there are four smaller components that are less visible, yet critical. The instruments that will fly aboard Webb - cameras and spectrographs with detectors able to record extremely faint signals — are part of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), which is currently undergoing its final cryogenic vacuum test and will be integrated with the mirror later this year. Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/by-the-dozen-nasas-jame... NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Rapid Maturation of Edge Sensor Technology and Potential Application in Large Space Telescopes with Segmented Primary Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, Edward E., IV; Smith, W. Scott (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper explores the history and results of the last two year's efforts to transition inductive edge sensor technology from Technology Readiness Level 2 to Technology Readiness Level 6. Both technical and programmatic challenges were overcome in the design, fabrication, test, and installation of over a thousand sensors making up the Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMs) for the 91 segment, 9.2-meter. Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET). The integration of these sensors with the control system will be discussed along with serendipitous leverage they provided for both initialization alignment and operational maintenance. The experience gained important insights into the fundamental motion mechanics of large segmented mirrors, the relative importance of the variance sources of misalignment errors, the efficient conduct of a program to mature the technology to the higher levels. Unanticipated factors required the team to develop new implementation strategies for the edge sensor information which enabled major segmented mirror controller design simplifications. The resulting increase in the science efficiency of HET will be shown. Finally, the on-going effort to complete the maturation of inductive edge sensor by delivering space qualified versions for future IR (infrared radiation) space telescopes.

Argentinean outdoor test facility for mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medina, M. C.; Dipold, J.; García, B.; Mansilla, A.; Maya, J.; Rasztocky, E.; de Souza, V.; Larrarte, J. J.; Benitez, M.

2015-08-01

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is planned to be an Observatory for very high energy -ray astronomy and will consist of several tens of telescopes which account for a reflective surface of more than 10000 m. These mirrors will be formed by a set of reflective facets. Different technological solutions, for a fast and cost efficient production of light-weight mirror facets are under test inside the CTA Consortium. Most of them involve composite structures whose behavior under real observing conditions is not yet fully tested. An outdoor test facility has been built in one of the former candidate sites for CTA, in Argentina (San Antonio de los Cobres [SAC], 3600 m a.s.l) in order to monitor the optical and mechanical properties of these facets exposed to the local atmospheric conditions for a given period of time. Four prototype mirrors built with different technologies have been installed and have been monitored for 6 months. In this work we present the preliminary results of this characterization.

Ultra-Light Precision Membrane Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Jim; Gunter, Kent; Patrick, Brian; Marty, Dave; Bates, Kevin; Gatlin, Romona; Clayton, Bill; Rood, Bob; Brantley, Whitt (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

SRS Technologies and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center have conducted a research effort to explore the possibility of developing ultra-lightweight membrane optics for future imaging applications. High precision optical flats and spherical mirrors were produced under this research effort. The thin film mirrors were manufactured using surface replication casting of CPI(Trademark), a polyimide material developed specifically for UV hardness and thermal stability. In the course of this program, numerous polyimide films were cast with surface finishes better than 1.5 nanometers rms and thickness variation of less than 63 nanometers. Precision membrane optical flats were manufactured demonstrating better than 1/13 wave figure error when measured at 633 nanometers. The aerial density of these films is 0.037 kilograms per square meter. Several 0.5-meter spherical mirrors were also manufactured. These mirrors had excellent surface finish (1.5 nanometers rms) and figure error on the order of tens of microns. This places their figure error within the demonstrated correctability of advanced wavefront correction technologies such as real time holography.

Challenges and Approach for Making the Top End Optical Assembly for the 4-meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canzian, Blaise; Barentine, J.; Hull, T.

2012-01-01

L-3 Integrated Optical Systems (IOS) Division has been selected by the National Solar Observatory (NSO) to make the Top End Optical Assembly (TEOA) for the 4-meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) to operate at Haleakala, Maui. ATST will perform to a very high optical performance level in a difficult thermal environment. The TEOA, containing the 0.65-meter silicon carbide secondary mirror and support, mirror thermal management system, mirror positioning and fast tip-tilt system, field stop with thermally managed heat dump, thermally managed Lyot stop, safety interlock and control system, and support frame, operates in the "hot spot” at the prime focus of the ATST and so presents special challenges. In this paper, we will describe the L-3 IOS technical approach to meet these challenges, including subsystems for opto-mechanical positioning, rejected and stray light control, wavefront tip-tilt compensation, and thermal management. Key words: ATST, TEOA, L-3 IOS, thermal management, silicon carbide (SiC) mirrors, hexapods, solar astronomy

Determination of contamination character of materials in space technology testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haynes, D. L.; Coulson, D. M.

1972-01-01

The contamination character of selected materials used in space technology testing is presented. Many of these materials contain components that become volatile in a space environment. Most previous data were limited to weight loss or vapor pressure. However, these parameters are not necessarily a direct measure of the contamination character of these materials. Selected materials were exposed to a thermal-vacuum environment, and the degree of contamination was measured by collecting the outgases from these materials on a cold test mirror surface. The degradation of reflectivity of the mirror was measured over a spectral range from 1100 A to 2.5 microns. Half the mirror's surface was also exposed to UV irradiation to determine its effects on the contaminative character of the depositing outgases. The amount of deposit per unit area was measured by microbalances mounted near the mirror; the sensor of one microbalance was UV irradiated. A quadrupole mass spectrometer was used to determine the composition of the outgases.

Silicon pore optics for future x-ray telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wille, Eric; Bavdaz, Marcos; Wallace, Kotska; Shortt, Brian; Collon, Maximilien; Ackermann, Marcelo; Günther, Ramses; Olde Riekerink, Mark; Koelewijn, Arenda; Haneveld, Jeroen; van Baren, Coen; Erhard, Markus; Kampf, Dirk; Christensen, Finn; Krumrey, Michael; Freyberg, Michael; Burwitz, Vadim

2017-11-01

Lightweight X-ray Wolter optics with a high angular resolution will enable the next generation of X-ray telescopes in space. The candidate mission ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics) required a mirror assembly of 1 m2 effective area (at 1 keV) and an angular resolution of 10 arcsec or better. These specifications can only be achieved with a novel technology like Silicon Pore Optics, which is being developed by ESA together with a consortium of European industry. Silicon Pore Optics are made of commercial Si wafers using process technology adapted from the semiconductor industry. We present the recent upgrades made to the manufacturing processes and equipment, ranging from the manufacture of single mirror plates towards complete focusing mirror modules mounted in flight configuration, and results from first vibration tests. The performance of the mirror modules is tested at X-ray facilities that were recently extended to measure optics at a focal distance up to 20 m.

CESIC: a new technology for lightweight and cost effective space instrument structures and mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devilliers, Christophe; Kroedel, Matthias R.

2005-08-01

For some years Alcatel Space has been interested in the development of a new material to produce lightweight, stiff, stable and cost effective structures and mirrors for space instrument. Cesic from ECM has been selected for its intrinsic properties (high specific modulus, high conductivity, quite low thermal expansion coefficient and high fracture toughness for a ceramic material), added to ample manufacturing capabilities. Under ESA responsibility, a flight representative optical bench of Cesic has been designed, manufactured and tested. The optical bench has been submitted with success to intensive vibration tests up to 80 g on shaker without problem and was tested down to 30 K showing very high stability. Cesic is also envisaged for large and lightweight space telescope mirrors. Coatings on the Cesic substrate have been developed and qualified for the most stringent optical needs. To prove the lightweight capability, a large Cesic mirror D=950 mm with an area mass of less than 25 kg/m2 has been designed, sized again launch loads and WFE performance, and then manufactured. Cesic is also envisaged for large future focal plane holding a large number of detectors assuring high stability thanks to its high thermal conductivity. A full size Cesic focal plane has been already successfully built and tested. Based on these successful results, Alcatel Space is now in position to propose for space projects this technology mastered in common with ECM both for mirrors and structures with new innovative concepts thanks to the manufacturing capabilities of this technology.

The investigation on mirrors maladjustment for RLG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xiao-qing; Gao, Ai-hua; Hu, Shang-bin; Lu, Zhi-guo

2011-06-01

In order to meet the high demand of the entire technology processing, the error compensation method is usually used to correct them and is premised on a good understanding of error sources and the law of the errors. In this paper, based on the theories of Collins's Integral and Collins's EIKONAL Function and the MATLAB software, we simulated and calculated the spatial distribution of optical beam in the cavity of the ring laser gyro under the resonator's maladjustment caused by the technology processing. From the simulation results, we can get that to the small-gain lasers, the same amount of disorders in the different structures have different effects on the spatial distribution of the beam, and the structures using the spherical mirrors relatively have the small impact on the beam; under the same disorder in the same cavity shape, the signal light and the calibration light which are respectively detected from the mirror M1 and M4 are different; under the same structures, different mirrors with the same amount of disorder will cause the different beat frequency difference; because of the disorders, the spot centers of clockwise and counterclockwise waves happen shift and will seriously affect the normal operation of the laser gyro if the imbalance reaches a certain degree. This work has a guiding role in the mirror adjustment of the laser gyros' technology processing, and has a reference value to the survival rate of the laser gyros and the improvement of measurement accuracy.

A Future Large-Aperture UVOIR Space Observatory: Key Technologies and Capabilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolcar, Matthew Ryan; Stahle, Carl M.; Balasubramaniam, Kunjithapatham; Clampin, Mark; Feinberg, Lee D.; Mosier, Gary E.; Quijada, Manuel A.; Rauscher, Bernard J.; Redding, David C.; Rioux, Norman M.;

Horizon: A Proposal for Large Aperture, Active Optics in Geosynchronous Orbit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chesters, Dennis; Jenstrom, Del

2000-01-01

In 1999, NASA's New Millennium Program called for proposals to validate new technology in high-earth orbit for the Earth Observing-3 (NMP EO3) mission to fly in 2003. In response, we proposed to test a large aperture, active optics telescope in geosynchronous orbit. This would flight-qualify new technologies for both Earth and Space science: 1) a future instrument with LANDSAT image resolution and radiometric quality watching continuously from geosynchronous station, and 2) the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) for deep space imaging. Six enabling technologies were to be flight-qualified: 1) a 3-meter, lightweight segmented primary mirror, 2) mirror actuators and mechanisms, 3) a deformable mirror, 4) coarse phasing techniques, 5) phase retrieval for wavefront control during stellar viewing, and 6) phase diversity for wavefront control during Earth viewing. Three enhancing technologies were to be flight- validated: 1) mirror deployment and latching mechanisms, 2) an advanced microcontroller, and 3) GPS at GEO. In particular, two wavefront sensing algorithms, phase retrieval by JPL and phase diversity by ERIM International, were to sense optical system alignment and focus errors, and to correct them using high-precision mirror mechanisms. Active corrections based on Earth scenes are challenging because phase diversity images must be collected from extended, dynamically changing scenes. In addition, an Earth-facing telescope in GEO orbit is subject to a powerful diurnal thermal and radiometric cycle not experienced by deep-space astronomy. The Horizon proposal was a bare-bones design for a lightweight large-aperture, active optical system that is a practical blend of science requirements, emerging technologies, budget constraints, launch vehicle considerations, orbital mechanics, optical hardware, phase-determination algorithms, communication strategy, computational burdens, and first-rate cooperation among earth and space scientists, engineers and managers. This manuscript presents excerpts from the Horizon proposal's sections that describe the Earth science requirements, the structural -thermal-optical design, the wavefront sensing and control, and the on-orbit validation.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-01

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery, and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. Optics replication uses reusable forms, called mandrels, to make telescope mirrors ready for final finishing. MSFC optical physicist Bill Jones monitors a device used to chill a mandrel, causing it to shrink and separate from the telescope mirror without deforming the mirror's precisely curved surface.

Technological developments for ultra-lightweight, large aperture, deployable mirror for space telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuccaro Marchi, Alessandro; D'Amato, Francesco; Gallieni, Daniele; Biasi, Roberto; Molina, Marco; Duò, Fabrizio; Ruder, Nikolaus; Salinari, Piero; Lisi, Franco; Riccardi, Armando; Gambicorti, Lisa; Simonetti, Francesca; Pereira do Carmo, Joao Pedro N.

2017-11-01

The increasing interest on space telescopes for scientific applications leads to implement the manufacturing technology of the most critical element, i.e. the primary mirror: being more suitable a large aperture, it must be lightweight and deployable. The presented topic was originally addressed to a spaceborne DIAL (Differential Absorption LIDAR) mission operating at 935.5 nm for the measurement of water vapour profile in atmosphere, whose results were presented at ICSO 2006 and 2008. Aim of this paper is to present the latest developments on the main issues related to the fabrication of a breadboard, covering two project critical areas identified during the preliminary studies: the design and performances of the long-stroke actuators used to implement the mirror active control and the mirror survivability to launch via Electrostatic Locking (EL) between mirror and backplane. The described work is developed under the ESA/ESTEC contract No. 22321/09/NL/RA. The lightweight mirror is structured as a central sector surrounded by petals, all of them actively controlled to reach the specified shape after initial deployment and then maintained within specs for the entire mission duration. The presented study concerns: a) testing the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) backplane manufacturing and EL techniques, with production of suitable specimens; b) actuator design optimisation; c) design of the deployment mechanism including a high precision latch; d) the fabrication of thin mirrors mock-ups to validate the fabrication procedure for the large shells. The current activity aims to the construction of an optical breadboard capable of demonstrating the achievement of all these coupled critical aspects: optical quality of the thin shell mirror surface, actuators performances and back-plane - EL subsystem functionality.

Verification procedure for the wavefront quality of the primary mirrors for the MRO interferometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakker, Eric J.; Olivares, Andres; Schmell, Reed A.; Schmell, Rodney A.; Gartner, Darren; Jaramillo, Anthony; Romero, Kelly; Rael, Andres; Lewis, Jeff

2009-08-01

We present the verification procedure for the 1.4 meter primary mirrors of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer (MROI). Six mirrors are in mass production at Optical Surface Technologies (OST) in Albuquerque. The six identical parabolic mirrors will have a radius of curvature of 6300 mm and a final surface wavefront quality of 29 nm rms. The mirrors will be tested in a tower using a computer generated hologram, and the Intellium⢠H2000 interferometer from Engineering Synthesis Design, Inc. (ESDI). The mirror fabrication activities are currently in the early stage of polishing and have already delivered some promising results with the interferometer. A complex passive whiffle tree has been designed and fabricated by Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS, Belgium) that takes into account the gravity loading for an alt-alt mount. The final testing of the primary mirrors will be completed with the mirror cells that will be used in the telescopes. In addition we report on shear tests performed on the mirror cell pads on the back of the primary mirrors. These pads are glued to the mirror. The shear test has demonstrated that the glue can withstand at least 4.9 kilo Newton. This is within the requirements.

Nonlinear Optics Technology, Area 1: FWM (Four Wave Mixing) Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-09-22

41 0 u Q)Co o 0 0. >1- o 0 41 -A $4 P4 38 paths to insure a high degree of copolarization at the Na cell. Turning mirrors (M) were visible dielectric...or MAXBRIte coated Zerodur substrate optics with twentieth wave or better surface figures. A 50-50 beamsplitter (BSl) served to generate the two pump...retroreflecting mirror . The signal beam, which essentially constituted a very bright glint, was split off of the pump leg by a beamsplitter and directed to a

Gregorian optical system with non-linear optical technology for protection against intense optical transients

DOEpatents

Ackermann, Mark R [Albuquerque, NM; Diels, Jean-Claude M [Albuquerque, NM

2007-06-26

An optical system comprising a concave primary mirror reflects light through an intermediate focus to a secondary mirror. The secondary mirror re-focuses the image to a final image plane. Optical limiter material is placed near the intermediate focus to optically limit the intensity of light so that downstream components of the optical system are protected from intense optical transients. Additional lenses before and/or after the intermediate focus correct optical aberrations.

Development of low-stress Iridium coatings for astronomical x-ray mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Döhring, Thorsten; Probst, Anne-Catherine; Stollenwerk, Manfred; Wen, Mingwu; Proserpio, Laura

2016-07-01

Previously used mirror technologies are not suitable for the challenging needs of future X-ray telescopes. This is why the required high precision mirror manufacturing triggers new technical developments around the world. Some aspects of X-ray mirrors production are studied within the interdisciplinary project INTRAAST, a German acronym for "industry transfer of astronomical mirror technologies". The project is embedded in a cooperation of Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences and the Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestrial Physics. One important task is the development of low-stress Iridium coatings for X-ray mirrors based on slumped thin glass substrates. The surface figure of the glass substrates is measured before and after the coating process by optical methods. Correlating the surface shape deformation to the parameters of coating deposition, here especially to the Argon sputtering pressure, allows for an optimization of the process. The sputtering parameters also have an influence on the coating layer density and on the micro-roughness of the coatings, influencing their X-ray reflection properties. Unfortunately the optimum coating process parameters seem to be contrarious: low Argon pressure resulted in better micro-roughness and higher density, whereas higher pressure leads to lower coating stress. Therefore additional measures like intermediate coating layers and temperature treatment will be considered for further optimization. The technical approach for the low-stress Iridium coating development, the experimental equipment, and the obtained first experimental results are presented within this paper.

CeSiCò - a new technology for lightweight and cost effective space instruments structures and mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devilliers, Christophe; Krödel, Matthias

2017-11-01

Alcatel Alenia Space and ECM have jointly developed a new ceramic material to produce lightweight, stiff, stable and cost effective structures and mirrors for space instrument the CesicÒ. Its intrinsic properties, added to ample manufacturing capabilities allow to manufacture stiff and lightweight cost effective mirrors and structure for space instruments. Different scale 1 flight representative CesicÒ optical structures have been manufactured and successfully tested under very strong dynamic environment and cryogenic condition down to 30K CesicÒ is also envisaged for large and lightweight space telescopes mirrors, a large CesicÒ 1 meter class mirror with an area mass of less than 25 Kg/m2 has been sized again launch loads and WFE performance and manufactured. CesicÒ applicability for large focal plane have been demonstrated through different scale 1 breadboards. Based on these successful results, AlcatelAleniaSpace and ECM are now in position to propose for space this technology with new innovative concepts thanks to the CesicÒ manufacturing capabilities. CesicÒ has therefore been selected for the structure and mirrors parts of a flight instrument payload and the manufacturing of the flight hardware is already underway. An high temperature high gain lightweight antenna breadboard is also under manufacturing for Bepi colombo mission. CesicÒ is therefore a good candidate for future challenging space instruments and is currently proposed for Japan and US space projects.

NIAC Phase I Study Final Report on Large Ultra-Lightweight Photonic Muscle Space Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ritter, Joe

2016-01-01

The research goal is to develop new tools support NASA's mission of understanding of the Cosmos by developing cost effective solutions that yield a leap in performance and science data. 'Maikalani' in Hawaiian translates to, "knowledge we gain from the cosmos." Missions like Hubble have fundamentally changed humanity's view of the cosmos. Last year's Nobel prize in physics was a result of astronomical discoveries. $9B class JWST size (6.5 meter diameter) space telescopes, when launched are anticipated to rewrite our knowledge of physics. Here we report on a neoteric meta-material telescope mirror technology designed to enable a factor of 100 or more reduction in areal density, a factor of 100 reduction in telescope production and launch costs as well as other advantages; a leap to enable missions to image the cosmos in unprecedented detail, with the associated gain in knowledge. Whether terahertz, visible or X-ray, reflectors used for high quality electromagnetic imaging require shape accuracy (surface figure) to far better than 1 wavelength (lambda) of the incident photons, more typically lambda/10 or better. Imaging visible light therefore requires mirror surfaces that approximate a desired curve (e.g. a sphere or paraboloid) with smooth shape deviation of th less than approximately 1/1000 the diameter of a human hair. This requires either thick high modulus material like glass or metal, or actuators to control mirror shape. During Phase I our team studied a novel solution to this systems level design mass/shape tradespace requirement both to advance the innovative space technology concept and also to help NASA and other agencies meet current operational and future mission requirements. Extreme and revolutionary NASA imaging missions such as Terrestrial Planet Imager (TPI) require lightweight mirrors with minimum diameters of 20 to 40 meters. For reference, NASA's great achievement; the Hubble space telescope, is only 2.4 meters in diameter. What is required is a way to make large inexpensive deployable mirrors where the cost is measured in millions, not billions like current efforts. For example we seek an interim goal within 10 years of a Hubble size (2.4m) primary mirror weighing 1 pound at a cost of 10K in materials. Described here is a technology using thin ultra lightweight materials where shape can be controlled simply with a beam of light, allowing imaging with incredibly low mass yet precisely shaped mirrors. These " Photonic Muscle" substrates will eventually make precision control of giant s p a c e apertures (mirrors) possible. OCCAM substrates make precision control of giant ultra light-weight mirror apertures possible. This technology is posed to create a revolution in remote sensing by making large ultra lightweight space telescopes a fiscal and material reality over the next decade.

X-ray pore optic developments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, Kotska; Bavdaz, Marcos; Collon, Maximilien; Beijersbergen, Marco; Kraft, Stefan; Fairbend, Ray; Séguy, Julien; Blanquer, Pascal; Graue, Roland; Kampf, Dirk

2017-11-01

In support of future x-ray telescopes ESA is developing new optics for the x-ray regime. To date, mass and volume have made x-ray imaging technology prohibitive to planetary remote sensing imaging missions. And although highly successful, the mirror technology used on ESA's XMM-Newton is not sufficient for future, large, x-ray observatories, since physical limits on the mirror packing density mean that aperture size becomes prohibitive. To reduce telescope mass and volume the packing density of mirror shells must be reduced, whilst maintaining alignment and rigidity. Structures can also benefit from a modular optic arrangement. Pore optics are shown to meet these requirements. This paper will discuss two pore optic technologies under development, with examples of results from measurement campaigns on samples. One activity has centred on the use of coated, silicon wafers, patterned with ribs, that are integrated onto a mandrel whose form has been polished to the required shape. The wafers follow the shape precisely, forming pore sizes in the sub-mm region. Individual stacks of mirrors can be manufactured without risk to, or dependency on, each other and aligned in a structure from which they can also be removed without hazard. A breadboard is currently being built to demonstrate this technology. A second activity centres on glass pore optics. However an adaptation of micro channel plate technology to form square pores has resulted in a monolithic material that can be slumped into an optic form. Alignment and coating of two such plates produces an x-ray focusing optic. A breadboard 20cm aperture optic is currently being built.

Spectral radiation analyses of the GOES solar illuminated hexagonal cell scan mirror back

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fantano, Louis G.

1993-01-01

A ray tracing analytical tool has been developed for the simulation of spectral radiation exchange in complex systems. Algorithms are used to account for heat source spectral energy, surface directional radiation properties, and surface spectral absorptivity properties. This tool has been used to calculate the effective solar absorptivity of the geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES) scan mirror in the calibration position. The development and design of Sounder and Imager instruments on board GOES is reviewed and the problem of calculating the effective solar absorptivity associated with the GOES hexagonal cell configuration is presented. The analytical methodology based on the Monte Carlo ray tracing technique is described and results are presented and verified by experimental measurements for selected solar incidence angles.

Prototyping the E-ELT M1 local control system communication infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Argomedo, J.; Kornweibel, N.; Grudzien, T.; Dimmler, M.; Andolfato, L.; Barriga, P.

2016-08-01

The primary mirror of the E-ELT is composed of 798 hexagonal segments of about 1.45 meters across. Each segment can be moved in piston and tip-tilt using three position actuators. Inductive edge sensors are used to provide feedback for global reconstruction of the mirror shape. The E-ELT M1 Local Control System will provide a deterministic infrastructure for collecting edge sensor and actuators readings and distribute the new position actuators references while at the same time providing failure detection, isolation and notification, synchronization, monitoring and configuration management. The present paper describes the prototyping activities carried out to verify the feasibility of the E-ELT M1 local control system communication architecture design and assess its performance and potential limitations.

Effects of low earth orbit on the optical performance of multi-layer enhanced high reflectance mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Donovan, Terence; Johnson, Linda; Klemm, Karl; Scheri, Rick; Bennett, Jean; Erickson, Jon; Dibrozolo, Filippo

1995-01-01

Two mirror designs developed for space applications were flown along with a standard mid-infrared design on the leading and trailing edges of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Preliminary observations of induced changes in optical performance of ZnS-coated mirrors and impact-related microstructural and microchemical effects are described in the proceedings of the First LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium. In this paper, effects of the induced environment and meteoroid/debris impacts on mirror performance are described in more detail. Also, an analysis of reflectance spectra using the results of Auger and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) profiling measurements are used to identify an optical-degradation mechanism for the ZnS-coated mirrors. Structural damage associated with a high-velocity impact on a (Si/Al2O3)-coated mirror was imaged optically and with scanning electron and atomic force microscopy (SEM and AFM). Scanning Auger and SIMS analysis provided chemical mapping of selected impact sites. The impact data suggest design and fabrication modifications for obtaining improved mechanical performance using a design variation identified in preflight laboratory simulations. Auger surface profile and SIMS imaging data verified the conclusion that secondary impacts are the source of contamination associated with the dendrites grown on the leading-edge ZnS-coated test samples. It was also found that dendrites can be grown in the laboratory by irradiating contaminated sites on a trailing-edge ZnS-coated sample with a rastered electron beam. These results suggest a mechanism for dendrite growth.

Recent Developments in the UltraForm Finishing and UltraSurf Measuring of Axisymmetric IR Domes

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-08

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Presented at Mirror Technology Days, Boulder, Colorado, USA......deterministic fabrication solution for a wide range of newly developed windows , domes and mirrors . COMMERCIALIZATION  UltraForm Finishing ( UFF

Meta-shell Approach for Constructing Lightweight and High Resolution X-Ray Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClelland, Ryan S.

2016-01-01

Lightweight and high resolution optics are needed for future space-based x-ray telescopes to achieve advances in high-energy astrophysics. Past missions such as Chandra and XMM-Newton have achieved excellent angular resolution using a full shell mirror approach. Other missions such as Suzaku and NuSTAR have achieved lightweight mirrors using a segmented approach. This paper describes a new approach, called meta-shells, which combines the fabrication advantages of segmented optics with the alignment advantages of full shell optics. Meta-shells are built by layering overlapping mirror segments onto a central structural shell. The resulting optic has the stiffness and rotational symmetry of a full shell, but with an order of magnitude greater collecting area. Several meta-shells so constructed can be integrated into a large x-ray mirror assembly by proven methods used for Chandra and XMM-Newton. The mirror segments are mounted to the meta-shell using a novel four point semi-kinematic mount. The four point mount deterministically locates the segment in its most performance sensitive degrees of freedom. Extensive analysis has been performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the four point mount and meta-shell approach. A mathematical model of a meta-shell constructed with mirror segments bonded at four points and subject to launch loads has been developed to determine the optimal design parameters, namely bond size, mirror segment span, and number of layers per meta-shell. The parameters of an example 1.3 m diameter mirror assembly are given including the predicted effective area. To verify the mathematical model and support opto-mechanical analysis, a detailed finite element model of a meta-shell was created. Finite element analysis predicts low gravity distortion and low thermal distortion. Recent results are discussed including Structural Thermal Optical Performance (STOP) analysis as well as vibration and shock testing of prototype meta-shells.

Active hexagonally segmented mirror to investigate new optical phasing technologies for segmented telescopes.

PubMed

Gonté, Frédéric; Dupuy, Christophe; Luong, Bruno; Frank, Christoph; Brast, Roland; Sedghi, Baback

2009-11-10

The primary mirror of the future European Extremely Large Telescope will be equipped with 984 hexagonal segments. The alignment of the segments in piston, tip, and tilt within a few nanometers requires an optical phasing sensor. A test bench has been designed to study four different optical phasing sensor technologies. The core element of the test bench is an active segmented mirror composed of 61 flat hexagonal segments with a size of 17 mm side to side. Each of them can be controlled in piston, tip, and tilt by three piezoactuators with a precision better than 1 nm. The context of this development, the requirements, the design, and the integration of this system are explained. The first results on the final precision obtained in closed-loop control are also presented.

Fabrication and testing of 4.2m off-axis aspheric primary mirror of Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Chang Jin; Lowman, Andrew E.; Smith, Greg A.; Su, Peng; Huang, Run; Su, Tianquan; Kim, Daewook; Zhao, Chunyu; Zhou, Ping; Burge, James H.

2016-07-01

Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (formerly known as Advanced Technology Solar Telescope) will be the largest optical solar telescope ever built to provide greatly improved image, spatial and spectral resolution and to collect sufficient light flux of Sun. To meet the requirements of the telescope the design adopted a 4m aperture off-axis parabolic primary mirror with challenging specifications of the surface quality including the surface figure, irregularity and BRDF. The mirror has been completed at the College of Optical Sciences in the University of Arizona and it meets every aspect of requirement with margin. In fact this mirror may be the smoothest large mirror ever made. This paper presents the detail fabrication process and metrology applied to the mirror from the grinding to finish, that include extremely stable hydraulic support, IR and Visible deflectometry, Interferometry and Computer Controlled fabrication process developed at the University of Arizona.

Gravity and thermal deformation of large primary mirror in space telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xin; Jiang, Shouwang; Wan, Jinlong; Shu, Rong

2016-10-01

The technology of integrating mechanical FEA analysis with optical estimation is essential to simulate the gravity deformation of large main mirror and the thermal deformation such as static or temperature gradient of optical structure. We present the simulation results of FEA analysis, data processing, and image performance. Three kinds of support structure for large primary mirror which have the center holding structure, the edge glue fixation and back support, are designed and compared to get the optimal gravity deformation. Variable mirror materials Zerodur/SiC are chosen and analyzed to obtain the small thermal gradient distortion. The simulation accuracy is dependent on FEA mesh quality, the load definition of structure, the fitting error from discrete data to smooth surface. A main mirror with 1m diameter is designed as an example. The appropriate structure material to match mirror, the central supporting structure, and the key aspects of FEA simulation are optimized for space application.

Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph Optical Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Basinger, Scott A.; Redding, David C.

2004-01-01

The Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph will rely heavily on modeling and analysis throughout its mission lifecycle. Optical modeling is especially important, since the tolerances on the optics as well as scattered light suppression are critical for the mission's success. The high contrast imaging necessary to observe a planet orbiting a distant star requires new and innovative technologies to be developed and tested, and detailed optical modeling provides predictions for evaluating design decisions. It also provides a means to develop and test algorithms designed to actively suppress scattered light via deformable mirrors and other techniques. The optical models are used in conjunction with structural and thermal models to create fully integrated optical/structural/thermal models that are used to evaluate dynamic effects of disturbances on the overall performance of the coronagraph. The optical models we have developed have been verified on the High Contrast Imaging Testbed. Results of the optical modeling verification and the methods used to perform full three-dimensional near-field diffraction analysis are presented.

Design and performance of the VLT 8-m coating unit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneermann, Michael W.; Groessl, M.; Nienaber, U.; Ettlinger, E.; Spiteri, J. A.; Clow, H.

1997-03-01

The 8 m coating unit for the VLT mirrors is designed for the deposition of high reflective, homogeneous aluminum coatings. For the process of the film deposition the sputter technology is utilized. The design of the following major subsystems is completed: the vacuum vessel and the vacuum generation system, the thin film deposition equipment and the glow discharge cleaning device, the substrate support and rotation system as well as the supporting framework and the auxiliary equipment. Manufacturing of the coating unit has started. The pre- assembly and testing activities, which will take place prior to the shipment to the site, are defined. This paper describes the design features and the major performance requirements of the 8 m coating unit. The performance of the sputter source design has been verified in a qualification test. The deposition rate, the film thickness and reflectance, as well as the film purity have been measured. The test set-up and the results of the qualification tests of the selected magnetron type are presented and discussed.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-08-31

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. The process allows fabricating precisely shaped mandrels to be used and reused as masters for replicating high-quality mirrors. This image shows a lightweight replicated x-ray mirror with gold coatings applied.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-01

NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies to the NASA program in the 21st century - including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. To reduce the cost of mirror fabrication, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed replication techniques, the machinery, and materials to replicate electro-formed nickel mirrors. The process allows fabricating precisely shaped mandrels to be used and reused as masters for replicating high-quality mirrors. Photograph shows J.R. Griffith inspecting a replicated x-ray mirror mandrel.

Toward Adaptive X-Ray Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Dell, Stephen L.; Atkins, Carolyn; Button, Tim W.; Cotroneo, Vincenzo; Davis, William N.; Doel, Peer; Feldman, Charlotte H.; Freeman, Mark D.; Gubarev, Mikhail V.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffrey J.;

Toward active x-ray telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Dell, Stephen L.; Atkins, Carolyn; Button, Timothy W.; Cotroneo, Vincenzo; Davis, William N.; Doel, Peter; Feldman, Charlotte H.; Freeman, Mark D.; Gubarev, Mikhail V.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.; Michette, Alan G.; Ramsey, Brian D.; Reid, Paul B.; Rodriguez Sanmartin, Daniel; Saha, Timo T.; Schwartz, Daniel A.; Trolier-McKinstry, Susan; Wilke, Rudeger H. T.; Willingale, Richard; Zhang, William W.

2011-09-01

Future x-ray observatories will require high-resolution (< 1") optics with very-large-aperture (> 25 m2) areas. Even with the next generation of heavy-lift launch vehicles, launch-mass constraints and aperture-area requirements will limit the areal density of the grazing-incidence mirrors to about 1 kg/m2 or less. Achieving sub-arcsecond x-ray imaging with such lightweight mirrors will require excellent mirror surfaces, precise and stable alignment, and exceptional stiffness or deformation compensation. Attaining and maintaining alignment and figure control will likely involve active (in-space adjustable) x-ray optics. In contrast with infrared and visible astronomy, active optics for x-ray astronomy is in its infancy. In the middle of the past decade, two efforts began to advance technologies for adaptive x-ray telescopes: The Smart X-ray Optics (SXO) Basic Technology project in the United Kingdom (UK) and the Generation-X (Gen-X) concept studies in the United States (US). This paper discusses relevant technological issues and summarizes progress toward active x-ray telescopes.

The Hubble Space Telescope optical systems failure report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

The findings of the Hubble Space Telescope Optical Systems Board of Investigation are reported. The Board was formed to determine the cause of the flaw in the telescope, how it occurred, and why it was not detected before launch. The Board conducted its investigation to include interviews with personnel involved in the fabrication and test of the telescope, review of documentation, and analysis and test of the equipment used in the fabrication of the telescope's mirrors. The investigation proved that the primary mirror was made in the wrong shape (a 0.4-wave rms wavefront error at 632.8 nm). The primary mirror was manufactured by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation (Hughes Danbury Optical Systems, Inc.). The critical optics used as a template in shaping the mirror, the reflective null corrector (RNC), consisted of two small mirrors and a lens. This unit had been preserved by the manufacturer exactly as it was during the manufacture of the mirror. When the Board measured the RNC, the lens was incorrectly spaced from the mirrors. Calculations of the effect of such displacement on the primary mirror show that the measured amount, 1.3 mm, accounts in detail for the amount and character of the observed image blurring. No verification of the reflective null corrector's dimensions was carried out by Perkin-Elmer after the original assembly. There were, however, clear indications of the problem from auxiliary optical tests made at the time. A special optical unit called an inverse null corrector, designed to mimic the reflection from a perfect primary mirror, was built and used to align the apparatus; when so used, it clearly showed the error in the reflective null corrector. A second null corrector was used to measure the vertex radius of the finished primary mirror. It, too, clearly showed the error in the primary mirror. Both indicators of error were discounted at the time as being themselves flawed. The Perkin-Elmer plan for fabricating the primary mirror placed complete reliance on the reflective null corrector as the only test to be used in both manufacturing and verifying the mirror's surface with the required precision. This methodology should have alerted NASA management to the fragility of the process and the possibility of gross error. Such errors had been seen in other telescope programs, yet no independent tests were planned, although some simple tests to protect against major error were considered and rejected. During the critical time period, there was great concern about cost and schedule, which further inhibited consideration of independent tests.

ULE design considerations for a 3m class light weighted mirror blank for E-ELT M5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, Andrew; Hobbs, Tom; Edwards, Mary; Arnold, Matthew; Sawyer, Kent

2016-07-01

It is expected that the next generation of large ground based astronomical telescopes will need large fast-steering/tip-tilt mirrors made of ultra-lightweight construction. These fast-steering mirrors are used to continuously correct for atmospheric disturbances and telescope vibrations. An example of this is the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) M5 lightweight mirror, which is part of the Tip-Tilt/Field-Stabilization Unit. The baseline design for the E-ELT M5 mirror, as presented in the E-ELT Construction Proposal, is a closed-back ULE mirror with a lightweight core using square core cells. Corning Incorporated (Corning) has a long history of manufacturing lightweight mirror blanks using ULE in a closed-back construction, going back to the 1960's, and includes the Hubble Space Telescope primary mirror, Subaru Telescope secondary and tertiary mirrors, the Magellan I and II tertiary mirrors, and Kepler Space Telescope primary mirror, among many others. A parametric study of 1-meter class lightweight mirror designs showed that Corning's capability to seal a continuous back sheet to a light-weighted core structure provides superior mirror rigidity, in a near-zero thermal expansion material, relative to other existing technologies in this design space. Corning has investigated the parametric performance of several design characteristics for a 3-meter class lightweight mirror blank for the E-ELT M5. Finite Element Analysis was performed on several design scenarios to obtain weight, areal density, and first Eigen frequency. This paper presents an overview of Corning ULE and lightweight mirror manufacturing capabilities, the parametric performance of design characteristics for 1-meter class and 3-meter class lightweight mirrors, as well as the manufacturing advantages and disadvantages of those characteristics.

High-resolution wavefront control of high-power laser systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brase, J; Brown, C; Carrano, C

1999-07-08

Nearly every new large-scale laser system application at LLNL has requirements for beam control which exceed the current level of available technology. For applications such as inertial confinement fusion, laser isotope separation, laser machining, and laser the ability to transport significant power to a target while maintaining good beam quality is critical. There are many ways that laser wavefront quality can be degraded. Thermal effects due to the interaction of high-power laser or pump light with the internal optical components or with the ambient gas are common causes of wavefront degradation. For many years, adaptive optics based on thing deformablemore » glass mirrors with piezoelectric or electrostrictive actuators have be used to remove the low-order wavefront errors from high-power laser systems. These adaptive optics systems have successfully improved laser beam quality, but have also generally revealed additional high-spatial-frequency errors, both because the low-order errors have been reduced and because deformable mirrors have often introduced some high-spatial-frequency components due to manufacturing errors. Many current and emerging laser applications fall into the high-resolution category where there is an increased need for the correction of high spatial frequency aberrations which requires correctors with thousands of degrees of freedom. The largest Deformable Mirrors currently available have less than one thousand degrees of freedom at a cost of approximately $1M. A deformable mirror capable of meeting these high spatial resolution requirements would be cost prohibitive. Therefore a new approach using a different wavefront control technology is needed. One new wavefront control approach is the use of liquid-crystal (LC) spatial light modulator (SLM) technology for the controlling the phase of linearly polarized light. Current LC SLM technology provides high-spatial-resolution wavefront control, with hundreds of thousands of degrees of freedom, more than two orders of magnitude greater than the best Deformable Mirrors currently made. Even with the increased spatial resolution, the cost of these devices is nearly two orders of magnitude less than the cost of the largest deformable mirror.« less

SXI prototype mirror mount

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

The purpose of this contract was to provide optomechanical engineering and fabrication support to the Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) program in the areas of mirror, optical bench and camera assemblies of the telescope. The Center for Applied Optics (CAO) worked closely with the Optics and S&E technical staff of MSFC to develop and investigate the most viable and economical options for the design and fabrication of a number of parts for the various telescope assemblies. All the tasks under this delivery order have been successfully completed within budget and schedule. A number of development hardware parts have been designed and fabricated jointly by MSFC and UAH for the engineering model of SXI. The major parts include a nickel electroformed mirror and a mirror mount, plating and coating of the ceramic spacers, and gold plating of the contact rings and fingers for the camera assembly. An aluminum model of the high accuracy sun sensor (HASS) was also designed and fabricated. A number of fiber optic tapers for the camera assembly were also coated with indium tin oxide and phosphor for testing and evaluation by MSFC. A large number of the SXI optical bench parts were also redesigned and simplified for a prototype telescope. These parts include the forward and rear support flanges, front aperture plate, the graphite epoxy optical bench and a test fixture for the prototype telescope. More than fifty (50) drawings were generated for various components of the prototype telescope. Some of these parts were subsequently fabricated at UAH machine shop or at MSFC or by the outside contractors. UAH also provide technical support to MSFC staff for a number of preliminary and critical design reviews. These design reviews included PDR and CDR for the mirror assembly by United Technologies Optical Systems (UTOS), and the program quarterly reviews, and SXI PDR and CDR. UAH staff also regularly attended the monthly status reviews, and made a significant number of suggestions to improve the design, assembly and alignment of the telescope. Finally, a high level assembly and alignment plan for the entire telescope was prepared by UAH. This plan addresses the sequence of assembly, the required assembly and alignment tolerances, and the methods to verify the alignment at each step during the assembly process. This assembly and alignment plan will be used to assemble and integrate the engineering model (EM) of the telescope. Later on, based on this plan more detailed assembly and alignment procedures will be developed for the lower-level assemblies of SXI.

Single spontaneous photon as a coherent beamsplitter for an atomic matter-wave

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tomkovič, Jiří; Welte, Joachim; Oberthaler, Markus K.

2014-12-04

In free space the spontaneous emission of a single photon destroys motional coherence. Close to a mirror surface the reflection erases the which-path information and the single emitted photon can be regarded as a coherent beam splitter for an atomic matter-wavewhich can be verified by atom interferometry. Our experiment is a realization of the recoiling slit Gedanken experiment by Einstein.

The STAR-X X-Ray Telescope Assembly (XTA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClelland, Ryan S.; Bautz, Mark W.; Bonafede, Joseph A.; Miller, Eric D.; Saha, Timo T.; Solly, Peter M.; Zhang, William W.

2017-01-01

The Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research eXplorer (STAR-X) science goals are to discover what powers the most violent explosions in the Universe, understand how black holes grow across cosmic time and mass scale, and measure how structure formation heats the majority of baryons in the Universe. To achieve these goals, STAR-X requires a powerful X-ray telescope with a large field of view, large collecting area, and excellent point spread function. The STAR-X instrument, the X-Ray Telescope Assembly (XTA), meets these requirements using a powerful X-ray mirror technology based on precision-polished single crystal silicon and a mature CCD detector technology. The XTA is composed of three major subsystems: an X-ray Mirror Assembly (MA) of high resolution, lightweight mirror segments fabricated out of single crystal silicon; a Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) made of back-illuminated CCD's capable of detecting X-rays with excellent quantum efficiency; and a composite Telescope Tube that structurally links the MA and FPA. The MA consists of 5,972 silicon mirror segments mounted into five subassemblies called meta-shells. A meta-shell is constructed from an annular central structural shell covered with interlocking layers of mirror segments. This paper describes the requirements, design, and analysis of the XTA subsystems with particular focus on the MA.

The STAR-X X-Ray Telescope Assembly (XTA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McClelland, Ryan S.

2017-08-01

The Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research eXplorer (STAR-X) science goals are to discover what powers the most violent explosions in the Universe, understand how black holes grow across cosmic time and mass scale, and measure how structure formation heats the majority of baryons in the Universe. To achieve these goals, STAR-X requires a powerful X-ray telescope with a large field of view, large collecting area, and excellent point spread function. The STAR-X instrument, the X-Ray Telescope Assembly (XTA), meets these requirements using a powerful X-ray mirror technology based on precision-polished single crystal silicon and a mature CCD detector technology. The XTA is composed of three major subsystems: an X-ray Mirror Assembly (MA) of high resolution, lightweight mirror segments fabricated out of single crystal silicon; a Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) made of back-illuminated CCDs capable of detecting X-rays with excellent quantum efficiency; and a composite Telescope Tube that structurally links the MA and FPA. The MA consists of 5,972 silicon mirror segments mounted into five subassemblies called metashells. A meta-shell is constructed from an annular central structural shell covered with interlocking layers of mirror segments. This paper describes the requirements, design, and analysis of the XTA subsystems with particular focus on the MA.

Towards a Multi-Variable Parametric Cost Model for Ground and Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Henrichs, Todd

2016-01-01

Parametric cost models can be used by designers and project managers to perform relative cost comparisons between major architectural cost drivers and allow high-level design trades; enable cost-benefit analysis for technology development investment; and, provide a basis for estimating total project cost between related concepts. This paper hypothesizes a single model, based on published models and engineering intuition, for both ground and space telescopes: OTA Cost approximately (X) D(exp (1.75 +/- 0.05)) lambda(exp(-0.5 +/- 0.25) T(exp -0.25) e (exp (-0.04)Y). Specific findings include: space telescopes cost 50X to 100X more ground telescopes; diameter is the most important CER; cost is reduced by approximately 50% every 20 years (presumably because of technology advance and process improvements); and, for space telescopes, cost associated with wavelength performance is balanced by cost associated with operating temperature. Finally, duplication only reduces cost for the manufacture of identical systems (i.e. multiple aperture sparse arrays or interferometers). And, while duplication does reduce the cost of manufacturing the mirrors of segmented primary mirror, this cost savings does not appear to manifest itself in the final primary mirror assembly (presumably because the structure for a segmented mirror is more complicated than for a monolithic mirror).

Multivariable parametric cost model for space and ground telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Henrichs, Todd

2016-09-01

Parametric cost models can be used by designers and project managers to perform relative cost comparisons between major architectural cost drivers and allow high-level design trades; enable cost-benefit analysis for technology development investment; and, provide a basis for estimating total project cost between related concepts. This paper hypothesizes a single model, based on published models and engineering intuition, for both ground and space telescopes: OTA Cost (X) D (1.75 +/- 0.05) λ (-0.5 +/- 0.25) T-0.25 e (-0.04) Y Specific findings include: space telescopes cost 50X to 100X more ground telescopes; diameter is the most important CER; cost is reduced by approximately 50% every 20 years (presumably because of technology advance and process improvements); and, for space telescopes, cost associated with wavelength performance is balanced by cost associated with operating temperature. Finally, duplication only reduces cost for the manufacture of identical systems (i.e. multiple aperture sparse arrays or interferometers). And, while duplication does reduce the cost of manufacturing the mirrors of segmented primary mirror, this cost savings does not appear to manifest itself in the final primary mirror assembly (presumably because the structure for a segmented mirror is more complicated than for a monolithic mirror).

Production of the 4.1-m Zerodur mirror blank for the VISTA Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doehring, Thorsten; Jedamzik, Ralf; Wittmer, Volker; Thomas, Armin

2004-09-01

VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is designed to be the world's largest wide field telescope. After finishing of the construction the telescope will be part of ESO and located in Chile close to the VLT observatory at Cerro Paranal. In November 2001 SCHOTT was selected by the VISTA project office at the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh to deliver the 4.1 m diameter primary mirror blank. The manufacturing of the mirror blank made from the zero expansion material Zerodur was challenging especially due to the f/1 design. Several tons of the glass ceramic material were removed during the grinding operation. A meniscus blank with a diameter of 4100 mm and a thickness of 171.5 mm was generated, having a large central hole of 1200 mm and an aspherical shape of the concave surface. Also the handling and turning operations needed special effort and were performed by a skilled team. This paper presents details and pictures of the corresponding production and inspection sequence at SCHOTT. The geometrical parameters were measured during manufacturing by help of a laser tracker system and the achieved parameters were compared with the initial technical specification. The final quality inspection verified the excellent quality of the mirror blank. The close co-operation between the astronomers and industry resulted in a project management without problems. In April 2003 the VISTA blank was delivered successfully within a ceremony dedicated to the anniversary of "100 years of astronomical mirror blanks from SCHOTT."

High Resolution Adjustable Mirror Control for X-ray Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trolier-McKinstry, Susan

We propose to build and test thin film transistor control circuitry for a new highresolution adjustable X-ray mirror technology. This control circuitry will greatly simplify the wiring scheme to address individual actuator cells. The result will be a transformative improvement for the X-ray Surveyor mission concept: mathematical models, which fit the experimental data quite well, indicate that 0.5 arcsecond imaging is feasible through this technique utilizing thin slumped glass substrates with uncorrected angular resolution of order 5-10 arcseconds. In order to correct for figures errors in a telescope with several square meters of collecting area, millions of actuator cells must be set and held at specific voltages. It is clearly not feasible to do this via millions of wires, each one connected to an actuator. Instead, we propose to develop and test thin-film technology that operates on the same principle as megapixel computer screens. We will develop the technologies needed to build thin film piezoelectric actuators, controlled by thin film ZnO transistors, on flexible polyimide films, and to connect those films to the back surfaces of X-ray mirrors on thin glass substrates without deforming the surface. These technologies represent a promising avenue of the development of mirrors for the X-Ray Surveyor mission concept. Such a telescope will make possible detailed studies of a wide variety of astrophysical sources. One example is the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), which is thought to account for a large fraction of the normal matter in the universe but which has not been detected unambiguously to date. Another is the growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe. This proposal supports NASA's goals of technical advancement of technologies suitable for future missions, and training of graduate students.

CFRP mirror technology for cryogenic space interferometry: review and progress to date

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, Martyn L.; Walker, David; Naylor, David A.; Veenendaal, Ian T.; Gom, Brad G.

2016-07-01

The FP7 project, FISICA (Far Infrared Space Interferometer Critical Assessment), called for the investigation into the suitability of Carbon fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) for a 2m primary mirror. In this paper, we focus on the major challenge for application, the development of a mirror design that would maintain its form at cryogenic temperatures. In order to limit self-emission the primary is to be cooled to 4K whilst not exceeding a form error of 275nm PV. We then describe the development of an FEA model that utilizes test data obtained from a cryogenic test undertaken at the University of Lethbridge on CFRP samples. To conclude, suggestions are made in order to advance this technology to be suitable for such an application in order to exploit the low density and superior specific properties of polymeric composites.

The Perceptions of CEIT Postgraduate Students Regarding Reality Concepts: Augmented, Virtual, Mixed and Mirror Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taçgin, Zeynep; Arslan, Ahmet

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine perception of postgraduate Computer Education and Instructional Technologies (CEIT) students regarding the concepts of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), Augmented Virtuality (AV) and Mirror Reality; and to offer a table that includes differences and similarities between…

Membrane-mirror-based autostereoscopic display for tele-operation and teleprescence applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKay, Stuart; Mair, Gordon M.; Mason, Steven; Revie, Kenneth

2000-05-01

An autostereoscopic display for telepresence and tele- operation applications has been developed at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. The research is a collaborative effort between the Imaging Group and the Transparent Telepresence Research Group, both based at Strathclyde. A key component of the display is the directional screen; a 1.2-m diameter Stretchable Membrane Mirror is currently used. This patented technology enables large diameter, small f No., mirrors to be produced at a fraction of the cost of conventional optics. Another key element of the present system is an anthropomorphic and anthropometric stereo camera sensor platform. Thus, in addition to mirror development, research areas include sensor platform design focused on sight, hearing, research areas include sensor platform design focused on sight, hearing, and smell, telecommunications, display systems for all visual, aural and other senses, tele-operation, and augmented reality. The sensor platform is located at the remote site and transmits live video to the home location. Applications for this technology are as diverse as they are numerous, ranging from bomb disposal and other hazardous environment applications to tele-conferencing, sales, education and entertainment.

Image Properties of an X-Ray Telescope of the Wolter-1 Type with Emphasis on Contrast Reduction by Diffuse Reflection. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lenzen, R.

1980-01-01

Theoretical and experimental results are presented on the geometrical-optic imaging properties of a Wolter-1 type paraboloid-hyperboloid X-ray telescope. Particular consideration is given to the effect of microroughness of the mirror on the imaging properties. Experiments were conducted in which scattering properties were determined as a function of wavelength, incidence angle, and roughness of the plane mirrors. Results indicate the need for optimization of mirror material and polishing technology as well as the development of improved mirror manufacturing techniques. The use of transmission gratings along with the Wolter-1 type telescope in spectroscopy applications is discussed.

SiC/Mg multilayer coatings for SCORE coronagraph: long term stability analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelizzo, Maria Guglielmina; Fineschi, Silvano; Zuppella, Paola; Corso, Alain Jody; Windt, David L.; Nicolosi, Piergiorgio

2011-10-01

SiC/Mg multilayers have been used as coatings of the Sounding-rocket CORonagraphic Experiment (SCORE) telescope mirrors launched during the NASA HERSCHEL program. This materials couple has been largely studied by researchers since it provides higher performances than a standard Mo/Si multilayer; the SCORE mirrors show in fact a peak reflectance of around 40% at HeII 30.4 nm. Nevertheless, long term stability of this coating is an open problem. A study on the aging and stability of this multilayer has been carried on. SiC/Mg multilayer samples characterized by different structural parameters have been deposited. They have been measured just after deposition and four years later to verify degradation based on natural aging. Experimental results and analysis are presented.

The RICH detector of the CBM experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamczewski-Musch, J.; Akishin, P.; Becker, K.-H.; Belogurov, S.; Bendarouach, J.; Boldyreva, N.; Deveaux, C.; Dobyrn, V.; Dürr, M.; Eschke, J.; Förtsch, J.; Heep, J.; Höhne, C.; Kampert, K.-H.; Kochenda, L.; Kopfer, J.; Kravtsov, P.; Kres, I.; Lebedev, S.; Lebedeva, E.; Leonova, E.; Linev, S.; Mahmoud, T.; Michel, J.; Miftakhov, N.; Niebur, W.; Ovcharenko, E.; Patel, V.; Pauly, C.; Pfeifer, D.; Querchfeld, S.; Rautenberg, J.; Reinecke, S.; Riabov, Y.; Roshchin, E.; Samsonov, V.; Schetinin, V.; Tarasenkova, O.; Traxler, M.; Ugur, C.; Vznuzdaev, E.; Vznuzdaev, M.

2017-12-01

The CBM-RICH detector is designed to identify electrons with momenta up to 8 GeV/c and high purity as this is essential for the CBM physics program. The detector consist of a CO2-gaseous radiator, a spherical mirror system, and Multi-Anode PhotoMultiplier Tubes (MAPMT) of type H12700 from Hamamatsu as photon detectors. The detector concept was verified through R&D studies and a laterally scaled prototype. The results were summarized in a TDR, in which open issues were defined concerning the readout electronics, the shielding of the magnetic stray field in the MAPMT region, the radiation hardness of the MAPMT sensors, and the mechanical holding structure of the mirror system. In this article an overview is given on the CBM RICH development with focus on those open issues.

Optimizing the Performance of X-Ray Optics for MaGIXS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadlapalli, N.; Hertz, E.; Cheimets, P.

2017-12-01

The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-Ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) is an X-ray imaging spectrometer that will observe the solar corona in the soft X-ray regime with both spatial and spectral resolution. The science goal of MaGIXS is to better understand the problem of coronal heating by measuring the temperature distribution, composition, and temporal variability of hot plasmas (>4 MK) in active regions. In order to do this, the instrument will observe the corona with a fast cadence ( 5 seconds) in wavelengths between 6-24 A with a 6" spatial resolution and a 0.1 A spectral resolution. To ensure that this instrument can achieve such a resolution, it is crucial to have exact measurements of the focal lengths of the mirrors. The mirrors will be aligned and mounted using the Centroid Detector Assembly (CDA) (a steerable laser originally developed for aligning the AXAF mirrors), a CMM Romer arm, and Hartmann aperture masks to perform the focal length measurements. We have designed metrology supports that elevate the aperture mask and mirror up to the height of the optical axis defined by the CDA of the laser, allows the aperture mask 3 translational degrees of freedom, and the allows the mirror 3 translational and 3 rotational degrees of freedom needed for alignment. The measured and verified focal lengths will then be used to carry out the alignment of the mirrors as the MaGIXS instrument is assembled for launch. MaGIXS is supported by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, contract number NNM15AA15C. This work is additionally supported by the NSF-REU solar physics program at SAO, grant number AGS-1560313.

A space imaging concept based on a 4m structured spun-cast borosilicate monolithic primary mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, S. C.; Bailey, S. H.; Bauman, S.; Cuerden, B.; Granger, Z.; Olbert, B. H.

2010-07-01

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMC) tasked The University of Arizona Steward Observatory (UASO) to conduct an engineering study to examine the feasibility of creating a 4m space telescope based on mature borosilicate technology developed at the UASO for ground-based telescopes. UASO has completed this study and concluded that existing launch vehicles can deliver a 4m monolithic telescope system to a 500 km circular orbit and provide reliable imagery at NIIRS 7-8. An analysis of such an imager based on a lightweight, high-performance, structured 4m primary mirror cast from borosilicate glass is described. The relatively high CTE of this glass is used to advantage by maintaining mirror shape quality with a thermal figuring method. Placed in a 290 K thermal shroud (similar to the Hubble Space Telescope), the orbit averaged figure surface error is 6nm rms when earth-looking. Space-looking optical performance shows that a similar thermal conditioning scheme combined with a 270 K shroud achieves primary mirror distortion of 10 nm rms surface. Analysis shows that a 3-point bipod mount will provide launch survivability with ample margin. The primary mirror naturally maintains its shape at 1g allowing excellent end-to-end pre-launch testing with e.g. the LOTIS 6.5m Collimator. The telescope includes simple systems to measure and correct mirror shape and alignment errors incorporating technologies already proven on the LOTIS Collimator. We have sketched a notional earth-looking 4m telescope concept combined with a wide field TMA concept into a DELTA IV or ATLAS 552 EELV fairing. We have combined an initial analysis of launch and space performance of a special light-weighted honeycomb borosilicate mirror (areal density 95 kg/m2) with public domain information on the existing launch vehicles.

Novel high-bandwidth bimorph deformable mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griffith, Michael S.; Laycock, Leslie C.; Archer, Nick J.

2004-12-01

Adaptive Optics (AO) is a critical underpinning technology for future laser delivery (including free-space optical communications), target illumination and imaging systems. It measures and compensates for optical distortion caused by transmission through the atmosphere, resulting in the ability to deploy smaller lasers and identify targets at greater ranges. One of the key components in an AO system is the wavefront modifier, which acts on the incoming or outgoing beam to counter the effects of the atmosphere. BAE SYSTEMS Advanced Technology Centre is developing multi-element bimorph deformable mirrors for such an applications. Our initial designs were based on a standard construction and exhibited a resonant frequency of 1kHz with a maximum stroke of +/-20μm for an active aperture of 50mm. These devices were limited by the necessity to have a 'dead space' between the inner active area and the mirror boundary; this ensured that both the requirements for the stroke and the fixed boundary conditions could be met simultaneously. However, there was a significant penalty to pay in terms of bandwidth, which is inversely proportional to the square of the full mirror diameter. In a series of iteration steps, we have created novel mounting arrangements that reduce dead space and thus provide the optimum trade-off between bandwidth and stroke. These schemes include supporting the mirror from underneath, rather than at its edge. As a result, models of 60mm active diameter mirrors predict a resonance in excess of 5kHz, combined with a maximum stroke greater than +/-40μm. This paper will discuss a number of different mirror designs and present experimental results for recently assembled devices.

Upper extremity rehabilitation of stroke: facilitation of corticospinal excitability using virtual mirror paradigm.

PubMed

Kang, Youn Joo; Park, Hae Kyung; Kim, Hyun Jung; Lim, Taeo; Ku, Jeonghun; Cho, Sangwoo; Kim, Sun I; Park, Eun Sook

2012-10-04

Several experimental studies in stroke patients suggest that mirror therapy and various virtual reality programs facilitate motor rehabilitation. However, the underlying mechanisms for these therapeutic effects have not been previously described. We attempted to delineate the changes in corticospinal excitability when individuals were asked to exercise their upper extremity using a real mirror and virtual mirror. Moreover, we attempted to delineate the role of visual modulation within the virtual environment that affected corticospinal excitability in healthy subjects and stroke patients. A total of 18 healthy subjects and 18 hemiplegic patients were enrolled into the study. Motor evoked potential (MEP)s from transcranial magnetic stimulation were recorded in the flexor carpi radialis of the non-dominant or affected upper extremity using three different conditions: (A) relaxation; (B) real mirror; and (C) virtual mirror. Moreover, we compared the MEPs from the virtual mirror paradigm using continuous visual feedback or intermittent visual feedback. The rates of amplitude increment and latency decrement of MEPs in both groups were higher during the virtual mirror task than during the real mirror. In healthy subjects and stroke patients, the virtual mirror task with intermittent visual feedback significantly facilitated corticospinal excitability of MEPs compared with continuous visual feedback. Corticospinal excitability was facilitated to a greater extent in the virtual mirror paradigm than in the real mirror and in intermittent visual feedback than in the continuous visual feedback, in both groups. This provides neurophysiological evidence supporting the application of the virtual mirror paradigm using various visual modulation technologies to upper extremity rehabilitation in stroke patients.

Upper extremity rehabilitation of stroke: Facilitation of corticospinal excitability using virtual mirror paradigm

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Several experimental studies in stroke patients suggest that mirror therapy and various virtual reality programs facilitate motor rehabilitation. However, the underlying mechanisms for these therapeutic effects have not been previously described. Objectives We attempted to delineate the changes in corticospinal excitability when individuals were asked to exercise their upper extremity using a real mirror and virtual mirror. Moreover, we attempted to delineate the role of visual modulation within the virtual environment that affected corticospinal excitability in healthy subjects and stroke patients. Methods A total of 18 healthy subjects and 18 hemiplegic patients were enrolled into the study. Motor evoked potential (MEP)s from transcranial magnetic stimulation were recorded in the flexor carpi radialis of the non-dominant or affected upper extremity using three different conditions: (A) relaxation; (B) real mirror; and (C) virtual mirror. Moreover, we compared the MEPs from the virtual mirror paradigm using continuous visual feedback or intermittent visual feedback. Results The rates of amplitude increment and latency decrement of MEPs in both groups were higher during the virtual mirror task than during the real mirror. In healthy subjects and stroke patients, the virtual mirror task with intermittent visual feedback significantly facilitated corticospinal excitability of MEPs compared with continuous visual feedback. Conclusion Corticospinal excitability was facilitated to a greater extent in the virtual mirror paradigm than in the real mirror and in intermittent visual feedback than in the continuous visual feedback, in both groups. This provides neurophysiological evidence supporting the application of the virtual mirror paradigm using various visual modulation technologies to upper extremity rehabilitation in stroke patients. PMID:23035951

Feasibility of a 30-meter space based laser transmitter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berggren, R. R.; Lenertz, G. E.

1975-01-01

A study was made of the application of large expandable mirror structures in future space missions to establish the feasibility and define the potential of high power laser systems for such applications as propulsion and power transmission. Application of these concepts requires a 30-meter diameter, diffraction limited mirror for transmission of the laser energy. Three concepts for the transmitter are presented. These concepts include consideration of continuous as well as segmented mirror surfaces and the major stow-deployment categories of inflatable, variable geometry and assembled-in-space structures. The mirror surface for each concept would be actively monitored and controlled to maintain diffraction limited performance at 10.6 microns during operation. The proposed mirror configurations are based on existing aerospace state-of-the-art technology. The assembled-in-space concept appears to be the most feasible, at this time.

Dynamic analysis of the large deployable reflector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calleson, Robert E.; Scott, A. Don

1987-01-01

The Large Deployable Reflector (LDR) is to be an astronomical observatory orbiting above Earth's obscuring atmosphere and operating in the spectral range between 30 microns and 1000 microns wavelength. The LDR will be used to study such astronomical phenomena as stellar and galactic formation, cosmology, and planetary atmospheres. The LDR will be the first observatory to be erected and assembled in space. This distinction brings with it several major technological challenges such as the development of ultra-lightweight deployable mirrors, advanced mirror fabrication techniques, advanced structures, and control of vibrations due to various sources of excitation. The purpose of this analysis is to provide an assessment of the vibrational response due to secondary mirror chopping and LDR slewing. The dynamic response of two 20-m LDR configurations was studied. Two mirror support configurations were investigated for the Ames concept, the first employs a six-strut secondary mirror support structure, while the second uses a triple-bipod support design. All three configurations were modeled using a tetrahedral truss design for the primary mirror support structure. Response resulting from secondary mirror chopping was obtained for the two Ames configurations, and the response of the primary mirror from slewing was obtained for all three configurations.

MAGNETIC LIQUID DEFORMABLE MIRRORS FOR ASTRONOMICAL APPLICATIONS: ACTIVE CORRECTION OF OPTICAL ABERRATIONS FROM LOWER-GRADE OPTICS AND SUPPORT SYSTEM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borra, E. F., E-mail: borra@phy.ulaval.ca

2012-08-01

Deformable mirrors are increasingly used in astronomy. However, they still are limited in stroke for active correction of high-amplitude optical aberrations. Magnetic liquid deformable mirrors (MLDMs) are a new technology that has the advantages of high-amplitude deformations and low costs. In this paper, we demonstrate extremely high strokes and interactuator strokes achievable by MLDMs which can be used in astronomical instrumentation. In particular, we consider the use of such a mirror to suggest an interesting application for the next generation of large telescopes. We present a prototype 91 actuator deformable mirror made of a magnetic liquid (ferrofluid). This mirror usesmore » a technique that linearizes the response of such mirrors by superimposing a large and uniform magnetic field on the magnetic field produced by an array of small coils. We discuss experimental results that illustrate the performance of MLDMs. A most interesting application of MLDMs comes from the fact they could be used to correct the aberrations of large and lower optical quality primary mirrors held by simple support systems. We estimate basic parameters of the needed MLDMs, obtaining reasonable values.« less

ATLAST ULE mirror segment performance analytical predictions based on thermally induced distortions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eisenhower, Michael J.; Cohen, Lester M.; Feinberg, Lee D.; Matthews, Gary W.; Nissen, Joel A.; Park, Sang C.; Peabody, Hume L.

2015-09-01

The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) is a concept for a 9.2 m aperture space-borne observatory operating across the UV/Optical/NIR spectra. The primary mirror for ATLAST is a segmented architecture with pico-meter class wavefront stability. Due to its extraordinarily low coefficient of thermal expansion, a leading candidate for the primary mirror substrate is Corning's ULE® titania-silicate glass. The ATLAST ULE® mirror substrates will be maintained at `room temperature' during on orbit flight operations minimizing the need for compensation of mirror deformation between the manufacturing temperature and the operational temperatures. This approach requires active thermal management to maintain operational temperature while on orbit. Furthermore, the active thermal control must be sufficiently stable to prevent time-varying thermally induced distortions in the mirror substrates. This paper describes a conceptual thermal management system for the ATLAST 9.2 m segmented mirror architecture that maintains the wavefront stability to less than 10 pico-meters/10 minutes RMS. Thermal and finite element models, analytical techniques, accuracies involved in solving the mirror figure errors, and early findings from the thermal and thermal-distortion analyses are presented.

Prototype Development of the GMT Fast Steering Mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Young-Soo; Koh, J.; Jung, H.; Jung, H.; Cho, M. K.; Park, W.; Yang, H.; Kim, H.; Lee, K.; Ahn, H.; Park, B.

2013-06-01

A Fast Steering Mirror (FSM) is going to be produced as a secondary mirror of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). FSM is 3.2 m in diameter and the focal ratio is 0.65. It is composed of seven circular segments which match with the primary mirror segments. Each segment contains a light-weighted mirror whose diameter is 1.1 m. It also contains tip-tilt actuators which would compensate wind effect and structure jitter. An FSM prototype (FSMP) has been developed, which consists of a full-size off-axis mirror segment and a tip-tilt test-bed. The main purpose of the FSMP development is to achieve key technologies, such as fabrication of highly aspheric off-axis mirror and tip-tilt actuation. The development has been conducted by a consortium of five institutions in Korea and USA, and led by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. The mirror was light-weighted and grinding of the front surface was finished. Polishing is in progress with computer generated hologram tests. The tip-tilt test-bed has been manufactured and assembled. Frequency tests are being performed and optical tilt set-up is arranged for visual demonstration. In this paper, we present progress of the prototype development, and future works.

Voice-coil technology for the E-ELT M4 Adaptive Unit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallieni, D.; Tintori, M.; Mantegazza, M.; Anaclerio, E.; Crimella, L.; Acerboni, M.; Biasi, R.; Angerer, G.; Andrigettoni, M.; Merler, A.; Veronese, D.; Carel, J.-L.; Marque, G.; Molinari, E.; Tresoldi, D.; Toso, G.; Spanó, P.; Riva, M.; Mazzoleni, R.; Riccardi, A.; Mantegazza, P.; Manetti, M.; Morandini, M.; Vernet, E.; Hubin, N.; Jochum, L.; Madec, P.; Dimmler, M.; Koch, F.

We present our design of the E-ELT M4 Adaptive Unit based on voice-coil driven deformable mirror technology. This technology was developed by INAF-Arcetri, Microgate and ADS team in the past 15 years and it has been adopted by a number of large ground based telescopes as the MMT, LBT, Magellan and lastly the VLT in the frame of the Adaptive Telescope Facility project. Our design is based on contactless force actuators made by permanent magnets glued on the back of the deformable mirror and coils mounted on a stiff reference structure. We use capacitive sensors to close a position loop co-located with each actuator. Dedicated high performance parallel processors are used to implement the local de-centralized control at actuator level and a centralized feed-forward computation of all the actuators forces. This allowed achieving in our previous systems dynamic performances well in line with the requirements of the M4 Adaptive Unit (M4AU) case. The actuator density of our design is in the order of 30-mm spacing for a figure of about 6000 actuators on the M4AU and it allows fulfilling the fitting error and corrections requirements of the E-ELT high order DM. Moreover, our contact-less technology makes the Deformable Mirror tolerant to up 5% actuators failures without spoiling system capability to reach its specified performances, besides allowing large mechanical tolerances between the reference structure and the deformable mirror. Finally, we present the Demonstration Prototype we are building in the frame of the M4AU Phase B study to measure the optical dynamical performances predicted by our design. Such a prototype will be fully representative of the M4AU features, in particular it will address the controllability of two adjacent segments of the 2-mm thick mirror and implement the actuators "brick" modular concept that has been adopted to dramatically improve the maintainability of the final unit.

Large active mirror in aluminium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leblanc, Jean-M.; Rozelot, Jean-Pierre

1991-11-01

The Large Active Mirrors in Aluminum Project (LAMA) is intended as a metallic alternative to the conventional glass mirrors. This alternative is to bring about definite improvements in terms of lower cost, shorter manufacturing, and reduced brittleness. Combined in a system approach that integrates design, development, and manufacturing of both the aluminum meniscus and its active support, the LAMA project is a technologically consistent product for astronomical and laser telescopes. Large size mirrors can be delivered, up to 8 m diameter. Recent progress in active optics makes possible control, as well as real-time adjustment, of a metallic mirror's deformations, especially those induced by temperature variations and/or aging. It also enables correction of whatever low-frequency surface waves escaped polishing. Besides, the manufacturing process to produce the aluminum segments together with the electron welding technique ensure the material's homogeneity. Quality of the surface condition will result from optimized implementation of the specific aluminum machining and polishing techniques. This paper highlights the existing aluminum realizations compared to glass mirrors, and gives the main results obtained during a feasibility demonstration phase, based on 8 m mirror requirements.

All-fiber wavelength-tunable picosecond nonlinear reflectivity measurement setup for characterization of semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viskontas, K.; Rusteika, N.

2016-09-01

Semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) is the key component for many passively mode-locked ultrafast laser sources. Particular set of nonlinear parameters is required to achieve self-starting mode-locking or avoid undesirable q-switch mode-locking for the ultra-short pulse laser. In this paper, we introduce a novel all-fiber wavelength-tunable picosecond pulse duration setup for the measurement of nonlinear properties of saturable absorber mirrors at around 1 μm center wavelength. The main advantage of an all-fiber configuration is the simplicity of measuring the fiber-integrated or fiber-pigtailed saturable absorbers. A tunable picosecond fiber laser enables to investigate the nonlinear parameters at different wavelengths in ultrafast regime. To verify the capability of the setup, nonlinear parameters for different SESAMs with low and high modulation depth were measured. In the operating wavelength range 1020-1074 nm, <1% absolute nonlinear reflectivity accuracy was demonstrated. Achieved fluence range was from 100 nJ/cm2 to 2 mJ/cm2 with corresponding intensity from 10 kW/cm2 to 300 MW/cm2.

Large aperture freeform VIS telescope with smart alignment approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beier, Matthias; Fuhlrott, Wilko; Hartung, Johannes; Holota, Wolfgang; Gebhardt, Andreas; Risse, Stefan

2016-07-01

The development of smart alignment and integration strategies for imaging mirror systems to be used within astronomical instrumentation are especially important with regard to the increasing impact of non-rotationally symmetric optics. In the present work, well-known assembly approaches preferentially applied in the course of infrared instrumentation are transferred to visible applications and are verified during the integration of an anamorphic imaging telescope breadboard. The four mirror imaging system is based on a modular concept using mechanically fixed arrangements of each two freeform surfaces, generated by servo assisted diamond machining and corrected using Magnetorheological Finishing as a figuring and smoothing step. Surface testing include optical CGH interferometry as well as tactile profilometry and is conducted with respect to diamond milled fiducials at the mirror bodies. A strict compliance of surface referencing during all significant fabrication steps allow for an easy integration and direct measurement of the system's wave aberration after initial assembly. The achievable imaging performance, as well as influences of the tight tolerance budget and mid-spatial frequency errors, are discussed and experimentally evaluated.

Comparative study on different types of segmented micro deformable mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiao, Dayong; Yuan, Weizheng; Li, Kaicheng; Li, Xiaoying; Rao, Fubo

2006-02-01

In an adaptive-optical (AO) system, the wavefront of optical beam can be corrected with deformable mirror (DM). Based on MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) technology, segmented micro deformable mirrors can be built with denser actuator spacing than continuous face-sheet designs and have been widely researched. But the influence of the segment structure has not been thoroughly discussed until now. In this paper, the design, performance and fabrication of several micromachined, segmented deformable mirror for AO were investigated. The wavefront distorted by atmospheric turbulence was simulated in the frame of Kolmogorov turbulence model. Position function was used to describe the surfaces of the micro deformable mirrors in working state. The performances of deformable mirrors featuring square, brick, hexagonal and ring segment structures were evaluated in criteria of phase fitting error, the Strehl ratio after wavefront correction and the design considerations. Then the micro fabrication process and mask layout were designed and the fabrication of micro deformable mirrors was implemented. The results show that the micro deformable mirror with ring segments performs the best, but it is very difficult in terms of layout design. The micro deformable mirrors with square and brick segments are easy to design, but their performances are not good. The micro deformable mirror with hexagonal segments has not only good performance in terms of phase fitting error, the Strehl ratio and actuation voltage, but also no overwhelming difficulty in layout design.

Modeling and measurement of electrostatic micromirror array fabricated with single-layer polysilicon micromachining technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Min, Young-Hoon; Kim, Yong-Kweon

1998-09-01

A silicon based micro mirror array is a highly efficient component for use in optical applications as adaptive optical systems and optical correlators. Many types of micro mirror or micro mirror array have been studied and proposed in order to obtain the optimal performance according to their own purposes. A micro mirror array designed, fabricated and tested in this paper consists of 5 X 5 single layer polysilicon-based, electrostatically driven actuators. The micro mirror array for the optical phase modulation is made by using only two masks and can be driven independently by 25 channel circuits. About 6 (pi) phase modulation is obtained in He-Ne laser ((lambda) equals 633 nm) with 67% fill-factor. In this paper, the deflection characteristics of the actuators in controllable range were studied. The experimental results show that the deflection characteristics is much dependent upon a residual stress in flexure, the initial curvature of mirror due to stress gradient and an electrostatic force acted on other element except for mirror itself. The modeling results agree well with the experimental results. Also, it is important to fabricate a flat mirror that is not initially curved because the curved mirror brings a bad performance in optical use. Therefore, a new method to obtain the flat mirror by using the gold metallization in spite of the residual stress unbalance is proposed in this paper.

Ground-Based Telescope Parametric Cost Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Rowell, Ginger Holmes

2004-01-01

A parametric cost model for ground-based telescopes is developed using multi-variable statistical analysis, The model includes both engineering and performance parameters. While diameter continues to be the dominant cost driver, other significant factors include primary mirror radius of curvature and diffraction limited wavelength. The model includes an explicit factor for primary mirror segmentation and/or duplication (i.e.. multi-telescope phased-array systems). Additionally, single variable models based on aperture diameter are derived. This analysis indicates that recent mirror technology advances have indeed reduced the historical telescope cost curve.

Construction of Prototype Lightweight Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, William G.

1997-01-01

This contract and the work described was in support of a Seven Segment Demonstrator (SSD) and demonstration of a different technology for construction of lightweight mirrors. The objectives of the SSD were to demonstrate functionality and performance of a seven segment prototype array of hexagonal mirrors and supporting electromechanical components which address design issues critical to space optics deployed in large space based telescopes for astronomy and for optics used in spaced based optical communications systems. The SSD was intended to demonstrate technologies which can support the following capabilities; Transportation in dense packaging to existing launcher payload envelopes, then deployable on orbit to form space telescope with large aperture. Provide very large (less than 10 meters) primary reflectors of low mass and cost. Demonstrate the capability to form a segmented primary or quaternary mirror into a quasi-continuous surface with individual subapertures phased so that near diffraction limited imaging in the visible wavelength region is achieved. Continuous compensation of optical wavefront due to perturbations caused by imperfections, natural disturbances, and equipment induced vibrations/deflections to provide near diffraction limited imaging performance in the visible wavelength region. Demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating such systems with reduced mass and cost compared to past approaches. While the SSD could not be expected to satisfy all of the above capabilities, the intent was to start identifying and understanding new technologies that might be applicable to these goals.

Speaking with a mirror: engagement of mirror neurons via choral speech and its derivatives induces stuttering inhibition.

PubMed

Kalinowski, Joseph; Saltuklaroglu, Tim

2003-04-01

'Choral speech', 'unison speech', or 'imitation speech' has long been known to immediately induce reflexive, spontaneous, and natural sounding fluency, even the most severe cases of stuttering. Unlike typical post-therapeutic speech, a hallmark characteristic of choral speech is the sense of 'invulnerability' to stuttering, regardless of phonetic context, situational environment, or audience size. We suggest that choral speech immediately inhibits stuttering by engaging mirror systems of neurons, innate primitive neuronal substrates that dominate the initial phases of language development due to their predisposition to reflexively imitate gestural action sequences in a fluent manner. Since mirror systems are primordial in nature, they take precedence over the much later developing stuttering pathology. We suggest that stuttering may best be ameliorated by reengaging mirror neurons via choral speech or one of its derivatives (using digital signal processing technology) to provide gestural mirrors, that are nature's way of immediately overriding the central stuttering block. Copyright 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Polishing, coating and integration of SiC mirrors for space telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodolfo, Jacques

2017-11-01

In the last years, the technology of SiC mirrors took an increasingly significant part in the field of space telescopes. Sagem is involved in the JWST program to manufacture and test the optical components of the NIRSpec instrument. The instrument is made of 3 TMAs and 4 plane mirrors made of SiC. Sagem is in charge of the CVD cladding, the polishing, the coating of the mirrors and the integration and testing of the TMAs. The qualification of the process has been performed through the manufacturing and testing of the qualification model of the FOR TMA. This TMA has shown very good performances both at ambient and during the cryo test. The polishing process has been improved for the manufacturing of the flight model. This improvement has been driven by the BRDF performance of the mirror. This parameter has been deeply analysed and a model has been built to predict the performance of the mirrors. The existing Dittman model have been analysed and found to be optimistic.

Cosmology with liquid mirror telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hogg, David W.; Gibson, Brad K.; Hickson, Paul

1993-01-01

Liquid mirrors provide an exciting means to obtain large optical telescopes for substantially lower costs than conventional technologies. The liquid mirror concept has been demonstrated in the lab with the construction of a diffraction limited 1.5 m mirror. The mirror surface, using liquid mercury, forms a perfect parabolic shape when the mirror cell is rotated at a uniform velocity. A liquid mirror must be able to support a heavy mercury load with minimal flexure and have a fundamental resonant frequency that is as high as possible, to suppress the amplitude of surface waves caused by small vibrations transmitted to the mirror. To minimize the transmission of vibrations to the liquid surface, the entire mirror rests on an air bearing. This necessitates the mirror cell being lightweight, due to the limited load capabilities of the air bearing. The mirror components must also have physical characteristics which minimize the effects of thermal expansion with ambient temperature fluctuations in the observatory. In addition, the 2.7 m mirror construction is designed so that the techniques used may be readily extended to the construction of large mirrors. To attain the goals of a lightweight, rigid mirror, a composite laminant construction was used. The mirror consists of a foam core cut to the desired parabolic shape, with an accuracy of a few mm. An aluminum hub serves as an anchor for the foam and skin, and allows precise centering of the mirror on the air bearing and drive system. Several plys of Kevlar, covered in an epoxy matrix, are then applied to the foam. A final layer of pure epoxy is formed by spin casting. This final layer is parabolic to within a fraction of a mm. An aluminum ring bonded to the circumference of the mirror retains the mercury, and incorporates stainless-steel hard-points for the attachment of balance weights.

Reflecting on Quality Learning in a Student Writing Experience Supported by Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Robert

With rapid developments in information technology in society being mirrored in the use of new learning technologies in universities, research into the quality of technologically-supported learning is essential. To date, research into new learning technologies has provided us with valuable knowledge that includes the theories behind their design,…

Uses of continuum radiation in the AXAF calibration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kolodziejczak, J. J.; Austin, R. A.; Elsner, R. F.; O'Dell, S. L.; Sulkanen, M. E.; Swartz, D. A.; Tennant, A. F.; Weisskopf, M. C.; Zirnstein, G.; McDermott, W. C.

1997-01-01

X-ray calibration of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) observatory at the MSFC X-Ray Calibration Facility (XRCF) made novel use of the x-ray continuum from a conventional electron-impact source. Taking advantage of the good spectral resolution of solid-state detectors, continuum measurements proved advantageous in calibrating the effective area of AXAF's High-Resolution Mirror Assembly (HRMA) and in verifying its alignment to the XRCF's optical axis.

Automatic target alignment of the Helios laser system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liberman, I.; Viswanathan, V. K.; Klein, M.; Seery, B. D.

1980-05-01

An automatic target-alignment technique for the Helios laser facility is reported and verified experimentally. The desired alignment condition is completely described by an autocollimation test. A computer program examines the autocollimated return pattern from the surrogate target and correctly describes any changes required in mirror orientation to yield optimum target alignment with either aberrated or misaligned beams. Automated on-line target alignment is thus shown to be feasible.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Logan, B.G.

A recently completed two-year study of a commercial tandem mirror reactor design (Mirror Advanced Reactor Study (MARS)) is briefly reviewed. The end plugs are designed for trapped particle stability, MHD ballooning, balanced geodesic curvature, and small radial electric fields in the central cell. New technologies such as lithium-lead blankets, 24T hybrid coils, gridless direct converters and plasma halo vacuum pumps are highlighted.

Optical Correction Of Space-Based Telescopes Using A Deformable Mirror System

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

FPA). A fast 5 steering mirror is used to move the FOV within the FOR so that the spacecraft does not need to physically move to a new target as...technology review and development roadmap,” Astro2010: The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, 2009, vol. 2010, p. 23. [8] D. Baiocchi, “Design and

The UltraLightweight Technology for Research in Astronomy (ULTRA) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Twarog, B. A.; Anthony-Twarog, B. J.; Shawl, S. J.; Hale, R.; Taghavi, R.; Fesen, R.; Etzel, P. B.; Martin, R.; Romeo, R.

2004-12-01

The collaborative focus of four academic departments (Univ. of Kansas Aerospace Engineering, Univ. of Kansas Physics & Astronomy, San Diego State University Astronomy and Dartmouth College Astronomy) and a private industry partner (Composite Mirror Applications, Inc.-CMA, Inc.) is a three-year plan to develop and test UltraLightweight Technology for Research in Astronomy (ULTRA). The ULTRA technology, using graphite fiber composites to fabricate mirrors and telescope structures, offers a versatile and cost-effective tool for optical astronomy, including the economical fabrication and operation of telescopes ranging from small (1m or smaller) aperture for education and research to extremely large (30m+) segmented telescopes (ELTs). The specific goal of this NSF-funded three-year Major Research Instrumentation project is to design, build, and test a 1m-class optical tube assembly (OTA) and mirrors constructed entirely from composites. In the first year of the project, the team has built and is field-testing two 0.4m prototypes to validate the optical surfaces and figures of the mirrors and to test and refine the structural dynamics of the OTA. Preparation for design and construction of the 1m telescope is underway. When completed in late 2005, the ULTRA telescope will be operated remotely from Mt. Laguna Observatory east of San Diego, where it will undergo a period of intensive optical and imaging tests. A 0.4m prototype OTA with mirrors (12 kg total weight) will be on display at the meeting. Support of this work by NSF through grants AST-0320784 and AST-0321247, NASA grant NCC5-600, the University of Kansas, and San Diego State University is gratefully acknowledged.

FMCSA’s advanced system testing utilizing a data acquisition system on the highways (FAST DASH) safety technology evaluation project #3 : novel convex mirrors : technology brief.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-11-01

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) established the FAST DASH program to perform efficient independent evaluations of promising safety technologies aimed at commercial vehicle operations. In this third FAST DASH safety technology ...

State-of-the-art low-cost solar reflector materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kennedy, C.; Jorgensen, G.

1994-11-01

Solar thermal technologies generate power by concentrating sunlight with large mirrors. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is working with industrial partners to develop the optical reflector materials needed for the successful deployment of this technology. The reflector materials must be low in cost and maintain high specular reflectance for extended lifetimes in severe outdoor environments. Currently, the best candidate materials for solar mirrors are silver-coated low-iron glass and silvered polymer films. Polymer reflectors are lighter in weight, offer greater flexibility in system design, and have the potential for lower cost than glass mirrors. In parallel with collaborative activities, several innovative candidate reflector-material constructions were investigated at NREL. The low-cost material requirement necessitates manufacturing compatible with mass-production techniques. Future cooperative efforts with the web-coating industry offers the promise of exciting new alternative materials and the potential for dramatic cost savings in developing advanced solar reflector materials.

Lightweight telescopes for lunar observatories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozelot, J. P.; Bingham, R.; Walker, D.

1994-06-01

Future optical observatories in space will require telescopes of very high resolution. To satisfy this demand, technology must be developed for large mirrors capable of diffraction-limited imaging. Conventional monolithic glass substrates (light-weight or not) have serious limitations for future development. In particular, glass is susceptible to fracture during ground-handling, transport and launch. An alternative solution is aluminium. It has lower cost, increased strength, easier and safer methods of fixing, amongst other advantages. It is readily lightweighted and can be produced with good polishing quality with nickel coating. We foresee applications for satellite telescope for astronomy, remote sensing, surveys of asteroids and debris in space. Furthermore, this technology is ideally suitable for lunar mounted interferometric experiments - as mirrors can be easily replicate, saving cost - and for telescopes deployed on planetary surfaces. Some results from the European Eureka Large Active Mirrors in Aluminium (LAMA) are here presented, which show the feasibility of such systems.

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Telescope Optical System Designs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vassiliev, Vladimir; Buckley, Jim; Falcone, Abe; Fegan, Steven; Finley, John; Gaurino, Victor; Hanna, David; Kaaret, Philip; Konopelko, Alex; Krawczynski, Henric; Romani, Roger; Weekes, Trevor

2008-04-01

AGIS is a conceptual design for a future ground-based gamma-ray observatory based on an array of ˜100 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) with a sensitivity to gamma-rays in the energy range 40 GeV-100 TeV. The anticipated improvement of AGIS sensitivity, angular resolution, and reliability of operation imposes demanding technological and cost requirements on the design of the IACTs. In this submission we focus on the optical system (OS) of the AGIS telescopes and consider options which include traditional Davies-Cotton and the other prime- focus telescope designs, as well as a novel two-mirror aplanatic OS originally proposed by Schwarzschild. Emerging new mirror production technologies based on replication processes such as cold and hot glass slumping, cured CFRP, and electroforming provide new opportunities for cost effective solutions for the design of the OS. We evaluate the capabilities of these mirror fabrication methods for the AGIS project.

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Telescope Optical System Designs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanna, David S.; Buckley, J. H.; Falcone, A.; Fegan, S.; Finley, J.; Guarino, V.; Kaaret, P.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Konopelko, A.; Romani, R.; Vassilliev, V.; Optical System Working Group; AGIS Collaboration

2008-03-01

The concept of a future ground-based gamma-ray observatory, AGIS, in the energy range 20 GeV-200 TeV is based on an array of 50-200 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). The anticipated improvement of AGIS sensitivity, angular resolution, and reliability of operation imposes demanding technological and cost requirements on the design of IACTs. In this submission we will focus on the optical system (OS) of AGIS telescopes and consider options which include traditional Davies-Cotton and the other prime-focus telescope designs, as well as the novel two-mirror aplanatic OS originally proposed by Schwarzschild. The emerging new mirror production technologies based on replication processes, such as cold and hot glass slumping, cured CFRP, and electroforming, provide new opportunities for cost effective solutions for the design of the OS. We initially evaluate capabilities of these mirror fabrication methods for the AGIS project.

Bonding Thin Mirror Segments Without Distortion for the International X-Ray Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, Tyler C.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Saha, Timo T.

2011-01-01

The International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) uses thin glass optics to maximize large effective area and precise low angular resolution. The thin glass mirror segments must be transferred from their fabricated state to a permanent structure without imparting distortion. IXO will incorporate about fourteen thousand thin mirror segments to achieve the mission goal of 3.0 square meters of effective area at 1.25 keV with an angular resolution of five arcseconds. To preserve figure and alignment, the mirror segment must be bonded with sub-micron movement at each corner. Recent advances in technology development have produced significant x-ray test results of a bonded pair of mirrors. Three specific bonding cycles will be described highlighting the improvements in procedure, temperature control, and precision bonding. This paper will highlight the recent advances in alignment and permanent bonding as well as the results they have produced.

Environmental Qualification of a Single-Crystal Silicon Mirror for Spaceflight Use

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hagopian, John; Chambers, John; Rohrback. Scott; Bly, Vincent; Morell, Armando; Budinoff, Jason

2013-01-01

This innovation is the environmental qualification of a single-crystal silicon mirror for spaceflight use. The single-crystal silicon mirror technology is a previous innovation, but until now, a mirror of this type has not been qualified for spaceflight use. The qualification steps included mounting, gravity change measurements, vibration testing, vibration- induced change measurements, thermal cycling, and testing at the cold operational temperature of 225 K. Typical mirrors used for cold applications for spaceflight instruments include aluminum, beryllium, glasses, and glass-like ceramics. These materials show less than ideal behavior after cooldown. Single-crystal silicon has been demonstrated to have the smallest change due to temperature change, but has not been spaceflight-qualified for use. The advantage of using a silicon substrate is with temperature stability, since it is formed from a stress-free single crystal. This has been shown in previous testing. Mounting and environmental qualification have not been shown until this testing.

Design of Remote Heat-Meter System Based on Trusted Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Changgeng; Lai, Liping

2018-03-01

This article presents a proposal of a heat meter and remote meter reading system for the disadvantages of the hackers very easily using eavesdropping, tampering, replay attack of traditional remote meter reading system. The system selects trusted technology such as, the identity authentication, integrity verifying, and data protection. By the experiments, it is proved that the remote meter reading system of the heat meter can be used to verify the feasibility of the technology, and verify the practicability and operability of data protection technology.

Micromirror array nanostructures for anticounterfeiting applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Robert A.

2004-06-01

The optical characteristics of pixellated passive micro mirror arrays are derived and applied in the context of their use as reflective optically variable device (OVD) nanostructures for the protection of documents from counterfeiting. The traditional design variables of foil based diffractive OVDs are shown to be able to be mapped to a corresponding set of design parameters for reflective optical micro mirror array (OMMA) devices. The greatly increased depth characteristics of micro mirror array OVDs provides an opportunity for directly printing the OVD microstructure onto the security document in-line with the normal printing process. The micro mirror array OVD architecture therefore eliminates the need for hot stamping foil as the carrier of the OVD information, thereby reducing costs. The origination of micro mirror array devices via a palette based data format and a combination electron beam lithography and photolithography techniques is discussed via an artwork example and experimental tests. Finally the application of the technology to the design of a generic class of devices which have the interesting property of allowing for both application and customer specific OVD image encoding and data encoding at the end user stage of production is described. Because of the end user nature of the image and data encoding process these devices are particularly well suited to ID document applications and for this reason we refer this new OVD concept as biometric OVD technology.

Optical control of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope.

PubMed

Upton, Robert

2006-08-10

The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) is an off-axis Gregorian astronomical telescope design. The ATST is expected to be subject to thermal and gravitational effects that result in misalignments of its mirrors and warping of its primary mirror. These effects require active, closed-loop correction to maintain its as-designed diffraction-limited optical performance. The simulation and modeling of the ATST with a closed-loop correction strategy are presented. The correction strategy is derived from the linear mathematical properties of two Jacobian, or influence, matrices that map the ATST rigid-body (RB) misalignments and primary mirror figure errors to wavefront sensor (WFS) measurements. The two Jacobian matrices also quantify the sensitivities of the ATST to RB and primary mirror figure perturbations. The modeled active correction strategy results in a decrease of the rms wavefront error averaged over the field of view (FOV) from 500 to 19 nm, subject to 10 nm rms WFS noise. This result is obtained utilizing nine WFSs distributed in the FOV with a 300 nm rms astigmatism figure error on the primary mirror. Correction of the ATST RB perturbations is demonstrated for an optimum subset of three WFSs with corrections improving the ATST rms wavefront error from 340 to 17.8 nm. In addition to the active correction of the ATST, an analytically robust sensitivity analysis that can be generally extended to a wider class of optical systems is presented.

New frontiers in ground-based optical astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strom, Steve

1991-07-01

Technological advances made in telescope designs during 1980's are outlined, including a segmented primary mirror for a 10-m telescope, new mirror-figuring techniques, and control systems based on computers and electronics. A new detector technology employing CCD's and advances in high-resolution telescopes are considered, along with such areas of research ready for major advances given new observing tools as the origin of large-scale structures in the universe, the creation and evolution of galaxies, and the formation of stars and planetary systems. Attention is focused on circumstellar disks, dust veils, jets, and brown dwarfs.

Deformable Mirrors Correct Optical Distortions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2010-01-01

By combining the high sensitivity of space telescopes with revolutionary imaging technologies consisting primarily of adaptive optics, the Terrestrial Planet Finder is slated to have imaging power 100 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. To this end, Boston Micromachines Corporation, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, received Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for space-based adaptive optical technology. The work resulted in a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirror (DM) called the Kilo-DM. The company now offers a full line of MEMS DMs, which are being used in observatories across the world, in laser communication, and microscopy.

Wavefront sensing, control, and pointing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, Thomas; Sevaston, George; Agronin, Michael; Bely, Pierre; Colavita, Mark; Clampin, Mark; Harvey, James; Idell, Paul; Sandler, Dave; Ulmer, Melville

1992-01-01

A majority of future NASA astrophysics missions from orbiting interferometers to 16-m telescopes on the Moon have, as a common requirement, the need to bring light from a large entrance aperture to the focal plane in a way that preserves the spatial coherence properties of the starlight. Only by preserving the phase of the incoming wavefront, can many scientific observations be made, observations that range from measuring the red shift of quasi-stellar objects (QSO's) to detecting the IR emission of a planet in orbit around another star. New technologies for wavefront sensing, control, and pointing hold the key to advancing our observatories of the future from those already launched or currently under development. As the size of the optical system increases, either to increase the sensitivity or angular resolution of the instrument, traditional technologies for maintaining optical wavefront accuracy become prohibitively expensive or completely impractical. For space-based instruments, the low mass requirement and the large temperature excursions further challenge existing technologies. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is probably the last large space telescope to rely on passive means to keep its primary optics stable and the optical system aligned. One needs only look to the significant developments in wavefront sensing, control, and pointing that have occurred over the past several years to appreciate the potential of this technology for transforming the capability of future space observatories. Future developments in space-borne telescopes will be based in part on developments in ground-based systems. Telescopes with rigid primary mirrors much larger than 5 m in diameter are impractical because of gravity loading. New technologies are now being introduced, such as active optics, that address the scale problem and that allow very large telescopes to be built. One approach is a segmented design such as that being pioneered by the W.M. Keck telescope now under construction at the Mauna Kea Observatory. It consists of 36 hexagonal mirror segments, supported on a framework structure, which are positioned by actuators located between the structure and the mirrors. The figure of the telescope is initialized by making observations of a bright star using a Shack Hartmann sensor integrated with a white light interferometer. Then, using sensed data from the mirror edges to control these actuators, the figure of the mosaic of 36 segments is maintained as if it were a rigid primary mirror. Another active optics approach is the use of a thin meniscus mirror with actuators. This technique was demonstrated on the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope (NTT) and is planned for use in the Very Large Telescope (consists of four 8-m apertures), which is now entering the design phase.

Cryogenic optical testing results of JWST aspheric test plate lens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Koby Z.; Towell, Timothy C.

2011-09-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Secondary Mirror Assembly (SMA) is a circular 740mm diameter beryllium convex hyperboloid that has a 23.5nm-RMS (λ/27 RMS) on-orbit surface figure error requirement. The radius of curvature of the SMA is 1778.913mm+/-0.45mm and has a conic constant of -1.6598+/-0.0005. The on-orbit operating temperature of the JWST SMA is 22.5K. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (BATC) is under contract to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) to fabricate, assemble, and test the JWST SMA to its on-orbit requirements including the optical testing of the SMA at its cryogenic operating temperature. BATC has fabricated and tested an Aspheric Test Plate Lens (ATPL) that is an 870mm diameter fused silica lens used as the Fizeau optical reference in the ambient and cryogenic optical testing of the JWST Secondary Mirror Assembly (SMA). As the optical reference for the SMA optical test, the concave optical surface of the ATPL is required to be verified at the same 20K temperature range required for the SMA. In order to meet this objective, a state-of-the-art helium cryogenic testing facility was developed to support the optical testing requirements of a number of the JWST optical testing needs, including the ATPL and SMA. With the implementation of this cryogenic testing facility, the ATPL was successfully cryogenically tested and performed to less than 10nm-RMS (λ/63 RMS) surface figure uncertainty levels for proper reference backout during the SMA optical testing program.

Development of Silicon-substrate Based Fabry-Perot Etalons for far-IR Astrophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stacey, Gordon

We propose to design, construct and test silicon-substrate-based (SSB) mirrors necessary for high performance Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) to be used in the 25-40 um mid-IR band. These mirrors will be fabricated from silicon wafers that are anti-reflection coated (ARC) by micromachining an artificial dielectric meta-material on one side, and depositing optimized gold-metalized patterns on the other. Two mirrors with the metalized surfaces facing one-another form the Fabry-Perot cavity, also known as the FPI etalon. The exterior surfaces of the silicon mirrors are anti-reflection coated for both good transmission in the science band, and to prevent unwanted parasitic FPI cavities from forming between the four surfaces (one anti-reflection coated, one metalized for each mirror) of the FPI etalon. The mirrors will be tested within a Miniature Cryogenic Scanning Fabry-Perot (MCSF) that we have designed through support of a previous NASA grant (NNX09AB95G). This design is based on our long experience in constructing and using scanning FPI in the mid-IR to submm range, and fits within test-beds we have on hand that are suitable for both warm and cold tests. The key technologies are the ARC and tuned mirrors that are enabled by silicon nano-machining techniques. The creation of these SSB mirrors promises greatly improved performance over previous versions of mid-IR to submm-band FPIs that are based on mirrors made from free-standing metal mesh stretched over support rings. Performance is improved both structurally and in terms of sensitivity, and is measured as the product of the cavity finesse times transmission. Our electromagnetic modeling suggests that SSB mirrors will improve this product by a factor of 2 over the best free standing mesh etalons available. This translates into a factor of sqrt(2) improvement in sensitivity per etalon, or a full factor of 2 when used in a tandem (dual etalon) FPI spectrometer. The SSB improvements are due to both the stiff (~ 0.8 mm thick) silicon substrate and the silicon nanofabrication techniques and include the effects of (1) precisely tuned reflective surfaces, (2) very smooth mirror surfaces leading to greater cavity efficiency, (3) reduced susceptibility to vibrations due the silicon support structures, (4) reduced susceptibility to defect finesse due to reduced mounting stress, and (5) greatly improved mechanical robustness that could result in space-qualified hardware. These improvements are enabled by the combination of silicon-based technologies and our sophisticated electromagnetic modeling. The finished products have many science applications. For example, the SSB mirrors within an MCSF would convert the FORCAST or HAWC+ cameras on SOFIA into imaging spectrometers capable of widescale mapping of the mid to far-IR fine structure lines from the Galactic Center, Galactic star formation regions and external galaxies. In fact, this new etalon technology could be used in any mid to far-IR camera, converting the camera into a moderate (100 to 4000) to high resolving power (~100,000) imaging spectrometer at modest cost. A particularly interesting application could be a large format (~10 cm diameter) FPI that could deliver resolving powers in excess of 5000 for a 10 m space telescope, which might be the incarnation of the next major far-IR space mission (see NASA Cosmic Origins Newsletter, V4, No. 1, March 2015). Our program addresses NASA's Strategic goal 1: "Expand the frontiers of knowledge, capability, and opportunity in space."; Objective 1.6: "Discover how the Universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars,"• specifically "Technology development and demonstration."• It also addresses Strategic Goal 2 via Objective 2.4: "Advance the Nation's STEM education and workforce pipeline by working collaborative with other agencies to engage students, teachers, and faculty in NASA's missions and unique assets."•

Radio frequency and microwave plasma for optical thin-film deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, Juergen; Paquet, Volker; Kersten, Ralf T.; Etzkorn, Heinz-Werner; Brusasco, Raymond M.; Britten, Jerald A.; Campbell, Jack H.; Thorsness, J. B.

1990-12-01

For the next generation of fusion lasers reflecting mirrors with laser damage thresholds of at least 40 J/cm2 for 1 0 ns laser pulses at 1 .064 pm are needed. Up to now, no deposition technique has been developed to produce such mirrors. Best R&D-values realized today are around 30 J/cm2 for e-beam evaporated mirrors. R&D on conventional e-beam coating processes over the last 1 0 years has come up with marginal improvements in laser damage thresholds only. However, new technologies, like PICVD (Plasma-Impulse CVD) developed for the fabrication of ultra-low loss fiber preforms, seem to offer the potential to solve this problem. First results have been reported already [1-3]. It is well known that fused silica produced by CVD processes can have laser damage thresholds as high as 80 J/cm2. However, the thickness of a single deposited film is in the pm-range for most of the CVD-processes used for preform manufacturing; since interference optics need films in the ; /4n range (where n is the refractive index of the dielectric material) the use of preform-fabrication processes for the purpose of interference mirror fabrication is limited to a few plasma based CVD technologies, namely PCVD (Plasma-CVD, Philips [4]; PICVD, SCHOTT [5]). Especially PICVD is a very powerful technology to fabricate thin film multilayers for interference mirrors, because this technique is able to produce films down to monolayer thickness with nearly perfect stoichiometry and morphology. In first and preliminary experiments the usual deposition in a circular tube at high temperatures has been used for simplicity. However, to produce large area high quality laser mirrors this principle know-how has to be transfered from circular to planar geometry. Experiments showed, that there may be some limitations with respect to the homogeneity of a planar deposition using microwave excitation for the plasma. Therefore experiments have been performed in parallel with both RF and microwave excitation for comparison. In the following we will restrict ourselves to the description and discussions of the planar processes; the principle and details of the PICVD-process are described elsewhere [5] while RF-plasma technology is a well known process.

Technology in the Rear-View Mirror: How to Better Incorporate the History of Technology into Technology Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallstrom, Jonas; Gyberg, Per

2011-01-01

The history of technology can play an important role in illuminating the fundamentals of technological change, but it is important that technology teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and researchers can be provided with good analytical tools for this purpose. In this article, we propose a model of techno-historical interplay, as a…

Getting the Gold Treatment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Epner Technology, Inc., worked with Goddard Space Center to apply gold coating to the Vegetation Canopy Lidar (VCL) mirror. This partnership resulted in new commercial applications for Epner's LaserGold(R) process in the automotive industry. Previously, the company did not have equipment large enough to handle the plating of the stainless steel panels cost effectively. Seeing a chance to renew this effort, Epner Technology and Goddard entered into an agreement by which NASA would fund the facility needed to do the gold-plating, and Epner Technology would cover all other costs as part of their internal research and development. The VCL mirror project proceeded successfully, fulfilling Goddard's needs and leaving Epner Technology with a new facility to provide LaserGold for the automotive industry. The new capability means increased power savings and improvements in both quality and production time for BMW Manufacturing Corporation of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Cadillac of Detroit, Michigan, as well as other manufacturers who have implemented Epner Technology's LaserGold process. LaserGold(R) is a registered trademark of Epner Technology, Inc.

CFRP composite optical telescope assembly for the 1 m ULTRA project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, Robert N.; Romeo, Robert C.

2006-06-01

The focus of the ULTRA Project is to develop and test Ultra-Lightweight Technology for Research applications in Astronomy. The ULTRA project is a collaborative effort involving the private firm Composite Mirror Applications, Inc (CMA) and 3 universities: University of Kansas, San Diego State University, and Dartmouth College. Funding for ULTRA is predominately from a NSF three year MRI program grant to CMA and KU with additional support from CMA, KU and SDSU. The goal of the ULTRA program is to demonstrate that a viable alternative exists to traditional glass mirror and steel telescope technology by designing, fabricating and testing a research telescope constructed from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials. In particular, a 1m diameter, Cassegrain telescope optics set and optical tube assembly (OTA) are being designed and fabricated by CMA. The completed telescope will be deployed at SDSU's Mt Laguna Observatory in a refurbished structure (new dome and mount provided via KU and SDSU). We expect that a successful completion and testing of this project will lead to future use of CFRP technology in larger telescopes and segmented telescopes. This paper describes the OTA (optical tube assembly) that has been developed for the ULTRA project. The mirror technology is described in another paper in this conference. A poster describes the ULTRA project overview in more detail.

NT-SiC (new-technology silicon carbide) : Φ 650mm optical space mirror substrate of high-strength reaction-sintered silicon carbide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suyama, Shoko; Itoh, Yoshiyasu; Tsuno, Katsuhiko; Ohno, Kazuhiko

2005-08-01

Silicon carbide (SiC) is the most advantageous as the material of various telescope mirrors, because of high stiffness, low density, low coefficient of thermal expansion, high thermal conductivity and thermal stability. Newly developed high-strength reaction-sintered silicon carbide (NTSIC), which has two times higher strength than sintered SiC, is one of the most promising candidates for lightweight optical mirror substrate, because of fully dense, lightweight, small sintering shrinkage (+/-1 %), good shape capability and low processing temperature. In this study, 650mm in diameter mirror substrate of NTSIC was developed for space telescope applications. Three developed points describe below. The first point was to realize the lightweight to thin the thickness of green bodies. Ribs down to 3mm thickness can be obtained by strengthen the green body. The second point was to enlarge the mirror size. 650mm in diameter of mirror substrate can be fabricated with enlarging the diameter in order. The final point was to realize the homogeneity of mirror substrate. Some properties, such as density, bending strength, coefficient of thermal expansion, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, fracture toughness, were measured by the test pieces cutting from the fabricated mirror substrates.

Prototype Development of the GMT Fast Steering Mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Young-Soo; Koh, J.; Jung, H.; Jung, H.; Cho, M. K.; Park, W.; Yang, H.; Kim, H.; Lee, K.; Ahn, H.; Park, B.

2014-01-01

A Fast Steering Mirror (FSM) is going to be provided as the secondary of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) for the first light observations. FSM is 3.2 m in diameter and the focal ratio is 0.65. It is composed of seven circular segments which match with the primary mirror segments. Each segment contains a light-weighted mirror whose diameter is 1.1 m, and each mirror is activated by three tip-tilt actuators which compensate image degradations caused by winds and structure jitter. An FSM prototype (FSMP) has been developed to achieve the key technologies, fabrication of highly aspheric off-axis mirror and precise tip-tilt actuation. It consists of a full-size off-axis mirror segment and a tip-tilt test-bed. The development has been conducted by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute together with four other institutions in Korea and USA. The mirror was light-weighted by digging about a hundred holes at the backside, and the front surface has been polished. The result of computer generated hologram measurements showed the surface error of 11.7 nm rms. The tip-tilt test-bed has been manufactured and assembled. Tip-tilt range and resolution tests complied the requirements, and the attenuation test results also satisfied the performance requirements. In this paper, we present the successful developments of the prototype.

Performance of lightweight large C/SiC mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yui, Yukari Y.; Goto, Ken; Kaneda, Hidehiro; Katayama, Haruyoshi; Kotani, Masaki; Miyamoto, Masashi; Naitoh, Masataka; Nakagawa, Takao; Saruwatari, Hideki; Suganuma, Masahiro; Sugita, Hiroyuki; Tange, Yoshio; Utsunomiya, Shin; Yamamoto, Yasuji; Yamawaki, Toshihiko

2017-11-01

Very lightweight mirror will be required in the near future for both astronomical and earth science/observation missions. Silicon carbide is becoming one of the major materials applied especially to large and/or light space-borne optics, such as Herschel, GAIA, and SPICA. On the other hand, the technology of highly accurate optical measurement of large telescopes, especially in visible wavelength or cryogenic circumstances is also indispensable to realize such space-borne telescopes and hence the successful missions. We have manufactured a very lightweight Φ=800mm mirror made of carbon reinforced silicon carbide composite that can be used to evaluate the homogeneity of the mirror substrate and to master and establish the ground testing method and techniques by assembling it as the primary mirror into an optical system. All other parts of the optics model are also made of the same material as the primary mirror. The composite material was assumed to be homogeneous from the mechanical tests of samples cut out from the various areas of the 800mm mirror green-body and the cryogenic optical measurement of the mirror surface deformation of a 160mm sample mirror that is also made from the same green-body as the 800mm mirror. The circumstance and condition of the optical testing facility has been confirmed to be capable for the highly precise optical measurements of large optical systems of horizontal light axis configuration. Stitching measurement method and the algorithm for analysis of the measurement is also under study.

Robot Design Challenge: This Design Challenge Is a Mirror on the World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roman, Harry T.

2004-01-01

A fun design challenge that can be used in the classroom and across the grades is presented in this article. No special tools, hardware, or supplies are needed, only imagination and teamwork. It is a fun exercise that illustrates technology education principles. This design challenge is a mirror on the world, very similar to how projects are…

High-repetition-rate optical delay line using a micromirror array and galvanometer mirror for a terahertz system.

PubMed

Kitahara, Hideaki; Tani, Masahiko; Hangyo, Masanori

2009-07-01

We developed a high-repetition-rate optical delay line based on a micromirror array and galvanometer mirror for terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The micromirror array is fabricated by using the x-ray lithographic technology. The measurement of terahertz time-domain waveforms with the new optical delay line is demonstrated successfully up to 25 Hz.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Email as an Object of Practitioner Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxwell, Sally V.

2015-01-01

As new communication technologies enter the classroom, teachers must attend to how digital platforms impact the interpersonal practices of teaching and learning. In this article, I study email exchanges with three of my students--Jorge, Adriana, and Jason--over the course of one year in an 11th-grade English class at River High School, a…

Adaptive Optics System with Deformable Composite Mirror and High Speed, Ultra-Compact Electronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Peter C.; Knowles, G. J.; Shea, B. G.

2006-06-01

We report development of a novel adaptive optics system for optical astronomy. Key components are very thin Deformable Mirrors (DM) made of fiber reinforced polymer resins, subminiature PMN-PT actuators, and low power, high bandwidth electronics drive system with compact packaging and minimal wiring. By using specific formulations of fibers, resins, and laminate construction, we are able to fabricate mirror face sheets that are thin (< 2mm), have smooth surfaces and excellent optical shape. The mirrors are not astigmatic and do not develop surface irregularities when cooled. The actuators are small footprint multilayer PMN-PT ceramic devices with large stroke (2- 20 microns), high linearity, low hysteresis, low power, and flat frequency response to >2 KHz. By utilizing QorTek’s proprietary synthetic impendence power supply technology, all the power, control, and signal extraction for many hundreds to 1000s of actuators and sensors can be implemented on a single matrix controller printed circuit board co-mounted with the DM. The matrix controller, in turn requires only a single serial bus interface, thereby obviating the need for massive wiring harnesses. The technology can be scaled up to multi-meter aperture DMs with >100K actuators.

Research Technology

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-11-01

This photograph shows an overall view of the Solar Thermal Propulsion Test Facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The 20-by 24-ft heliostat mirror, shown at the left, has dual-axis control that keeps a reflection of the sunlight on an 18-ft diameter concentrator mirror (right). The concentrator mirror then focuses the sunlight to a 4-in focal point inside the vacuum chamber, shown at the front of concentrator mirror. Researchers at MSFC have designed, fabricated, and tested the first solar thermal engine, a non-chemical rocket engine that produces lower thrust but has better thrust efficiency than chemical a combustion engine. MSFC turned to solar thermal propulsion in the early 1990s due to its simplicity, safety, low cost, and commonality with other propulsion systems. Solar thermal propulsion works by acquiring and redirecting solar energy to heat a propell nt. As part of MSFC's Space Transportation Directorate, the Propulsion Research Center serves as a national resource for research of advanced, revolutionary propulsion technologies. The mission is to move the Nation's capabilities beyond the confines of conventional chemical propulsion into an era of aircraft-like access to Earth-orbit, rapid travel throughout the solar system, and exploration of interstellar space.

W. M. Keck Observatory primary mirror segment repair project: overview and status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meeks, Robert L.; Doyle, Steve; Higginson, Jamie; Hudek, John S.; Irace, William; McBride, Dennis; Pollard, Mike; Tai, Kuochou; Von Boeckmann, Tod; Wold, Leslie; Wold, Truman

2016-07-01

The W. M. Keck Observatory Segment Repair Project is repairing stress-induced fractures near the support points in the primary mirror segments. The cracks are believed to result from deficiencies in the original design and implementation of the adhesive joints connecting the Invar support components to the ZERODUR mirror. Stresses caused by temperature cycling over 20 years of service drove cracks that developed at the glass-metal interfaces. Over the last few years the extent and cause of the cracks have been studied, and new supports have been designed. Repair of the damaged glass required development of specialized tools and procedures for: (1) transport of the segments; (2) pre-repair metrology to establish the initial condition; (3) removal of support hardware assemblies; (4) removal of the original supports; (5) grinding and re-surfacing the damaged glass areas; (6) etching to remove sub-surface damage; (7) bonding new supports; (8) re-installation of support assemblies; and (9) post-repair metrology. Repair of the first segment demonstrated the new tools and processes. On-sky measurements before and after repair verified compliance with the requirements. This paper summarizes the repair process, on-sky results, and transportation system, and also provides an update on the project status and schedule for repairing all 84 mirror segments. Strategies for maintaining quality and ensuring that repairs are done consistently are also presented.

Mirror neural training induced by virtual reality in brain-computer interfaces may provide a promising approach for the autism therapy.

PubMed

Zhu, Huaping; Sun, Yaoru; Zeng, Jinhua; Sun, Hongyu

2011-05-01

Previous studies have suggested that the dysfunction of the human mirror neuron system (hMNS) plays an important role in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this work, we propose a novel training program from our interdisciplinary research to improve mirror neuron functions of autistic individuals by using a BCI system with virtual reality technology. It is a promising approach for the autism to learn and develop social communications in a VR environment. A test method for this hypothesis is also provided. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Truss Optimization for a Manned Nuclear Electric Space Vehicle using Genetic Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benford, Andrew; Tinker, Michael L.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to utilize the genetic algorithm (GA) optimization method for structural design of a nuclear propulsion vehicle. Genetic algorithms provide a guided, random search technique that mirrors biological adaptation. To verify the GA capabilities, other traditional optimization methods were used to generate results for comparison to the GA results, first for simple two-dimensional structures, and then for full-scale three-dimensional truss designs.

Optical microfiber-based photonic crystal cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Yang; Sun, Yi-zhi; Andrews, Steve; Li, Zhi-yuan; Ding, Wei

2016-01-01

Using a focused ion beam milling technique, we fabricate broad stop band (∼10% wide) photonic crystal (PhC) cavities in adiabatically-tapered silica fibers. Abrupt structural design of PhC mirrors efficiently reduces radiation loss, increasing the cavity finesse to ∼7.5. Further experiments and simulations verify that the remaining loss is mainly due to Ga ion implantation. Such a microfiber PhC cavity probably has potentials in many light-matter interaction applications.

Next Generation X-Ray Optics: High-Resolution, Light-Weight, and Low-Cost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, William W.

2012-01-01

X-ray telescopes are essential to the future of x-ray astronomy. In this talk I will describe a comprehensive program to advance the technology for x-ray telescopes well beyond the state of the art represented by the three currently operating missions: Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku. This program will address the three key issues in making an x-ray telescope: (1) angular resolution, (2) effective area per unit mass, and (3) cost per unit effective area. The objectives of this technology program are (1) in the near term, to enable Explorer-class x-ray missions and an IXO-type mission, and (2) in the long term, to enable a flagship x-ray mission with sub-arcsecond angular resolution and multi-square-meter effective area, at an affordable cost. We pursue two approaches concurrently, emphasizing the first approach in the near term (2-5 years) and the second in the long term (4-10 years). The first approach is precision slumping of borosilicate glass sheets. By design and choice at the outset, this technique makes lightweight and low-cost mirrors. The development program will continue to improve angular resolution, to enable the production of 5-arcsecond x-ray telescopes, to support Explorer-class missions and one or more missions to supersede the original IXO mission. The second approach is precision polishing and light-weighting of single-crystal silicon mirrors. This approach benefits from two recent commercial developments: (1) the inexpensive and abundant availability of large blocks of monocrystalline silicon, and (2) revolutionary advances in deterministic, precision polishing of mirrors. By design and choice at the outset, this technique is capable of producing lightweight mirrors with sub-arcsecond angular resolution. The development program will increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the polishing and the light-weighting processes, to enable the production of lightweight sub-arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Concurrent with the fabrication of lightweight mirror segments is the continued development and perfection of alignment and integration techniques, for incorporating individual mirror segments into a precision mirror assembly. Recently, we have been developing a technique called edge-bonding, which has achieved an accuracy to enable 10-arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Currently, we are investigating and improving the long-term alignment stability of so-bonded mirrors. Next, we shall refine this process to enable 5-arsecond x-ray telescopes. This technology development program includes all elements to demonstrate progress toward TRL-6: metrology; x-ray performance tests; coupled structural, thermal, and optical performance analysis, and environmental testing.

Next Generation X-Ray Optics: High-Resolution, Light-Weight, and Low-Cost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, William W.

2011-01-01

X-ray telescopes are essential to the future of x-ray astronomy. This paper describes a comprehensive program to advance the technology for x-ray telescopes well beyond the state of the art represented by the three currently operating missions: Chandra, XMM-Newton , and Suzaku . This program will address the three key issues in making an x-ray telescope: (I) angular resolution, (2) effective area per unit mass, and (3) cost per unit effective area. The objectives of this technology program are (1) in the near term, to enable Explorer-class x-ray missions and an IXO type mission, and (2) in the long term, to enable a flagship x-ray mission with sub-arcsecond angular resolution and multi-square-meter effective area, at an affordable cost. We pursue two approaches concurrently, emphasizing the first approach in the near term (2-5 years) and the second in the long term (4-10 years). The first approach is precision slumping of borosilicate glass sheets. By design and choice at the outset, this technique makes lightweight and low-cost mirrors. The development program will continue to improve angular resolution, to enable the production of 5-arcsecond x-ray telescopes, to support Explorer-class missions and one or more missions to supersede the original IXO mission. The second approach is precision polishing and light-weighting of single-crystal silicon mirrors. This approach benefits from two recent commercial developments: (1) the inexpensive and abundant availability of large blocks of mono crystalline silicon, and (2) revolutionary advances in deterministic, precision polishing of mirrors. By design and choice at the outset, this technique is capable of producing lightweight mirrors with sub-arcsecond angular resolution. The development program will increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the polishing and the lightweighting processes, to enable the production of lightweight sub-arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Concurrent with the fabrication of lightweight mirror segments is the continued development and perfection of alignment and integration techniques, for incorporating individual mirror segments into a precision mirror assembly. Recently, we have been developing a technique called edge-bonding, which has achieved an accuracy to enable 10- arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Currently, we are investigating and improving the long-term alignment stability of so-bonded mirrors. Next, we shall refine this process to enable 5-arsecond x-ray telescopes. This technology development program includes all elements to demonstrate progress toward TRL-6: metrology; x-ray performance tests; coupled structural, thermal, and optical performance analysis, and environmental testing.

Precision Optical Coatings for Large Space Telescope Mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheikh, David

This proposal “Precision Optical Coatings for Large Space Telescope Mirrors” addresses the need to develop and advance the state-of-the-art in optical coating technology. NASA is considering large monolithic mirrors 1 to 8-meters in diameter for future telescopes such as HabEx and LUVOIR. Improved large area coating processes are needed to meet the future requirements of large astronomical mirrors. In this project, we will demonstrate a broadband reflective coating process for achieving high reflectivity from 90-nm to 2500-nm over a 2.3-meter diameter coating area. The coating process is scalable to larger mirrors, 6+ meters in diameter. We will use a battery-driven coating process to make an aluminum reflector, and a motion-controlled coating technology for depositing protective layers. We will advance the state-of-the-art for coating technology and manufacturing infrastructure, to meet the reflectance and wavefront requirements of both HabEx and LUVOIR. Specifically, we will combine the broadband reflective coating designs and processes developed at GSFC and JPL with large area manufacturing technologies developed at ZeCoat Corporation. Our primary objectives are to: Demonstrate an aluminum coating process to create uniform coatings over large areas with near-theoretical aluminum reflectance Demonstrate a motion-controlled coating process to apply very precise 2-nm to 5- nm thick protective/interference layers to large areas, Demonstrate a broadband coating system (90-nm to 2500-nm) over a 2.3-meter coating area and test it against the current coating specifications for LUVOIR/HabEx. We will perform simulated space-environment testing, and we expect to advance the TRL from 3 to >5 in 3-years.

Controlling the shapes of coated silicon substrates via magnetic fields, a progress report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulmer, Melville P.; Coppejans, Rocco; Buchholz, David B.; Cao, Jian; Wang, Xiaoli; Mercado, Alejandro M.; Qian, Jun; Assoufid, Lahsen; O'Donnell, Allison E.; Condron, Kyle S.; Harpt, Benjamin E.

2017-08-01

We describe our progress in developing a method for correcting residual figure errors in X-ray mirrors. The technology has applications to both synchrotron radiation beamlines and X-ray astronomy. Our concept is to develop mirrors that are on the order of a millimeter thick. A magnetic smart material (MSM) is deposited onto the mirror substrate (silicon) and coated with a magnetically hard material. The shape of the mirror can be controlled by applying an external magnetic field to the mirror. This causes the MSM to expand or contract, thereby applying a magnetostrictive stress to the mirror and changing its shape. The shape change is maintained after the field has been removed by the magnetic hard material, which retains part of the field and prevents the MSM from relaxing. Here we present the results of shaping 200 µm thick silicon (100) 14 × 2 mm cantilevers and 50 × 50 × 0.1 mm substrates. We demonstrate that not only can a sizable deflection be created, but it can also be retained for ˜ 60 hours.

Figure Control of Lightweight Optical Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Main, John A.; Song, Haiping

2005-01-01

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the use of fuzzy logic controllers in modifying the figure of a piezoceramic bimorph mirror. Non-contact electron actuation technology is used to actively control a bimorph mirror comprised two PZT-5H wafers by varying the electron flux and electron voltages. Due to electron blooming generated by the electron flux, it is difficult to develop an accurate control model for the bimorph mirror through theoretical analysis alone. The non-contact shape control system with electron flux blooming can be approximately described with a heuristic model based on experimental data. Two fuzzy logic feedback controllers are developed to control the shape of the bimorph mirror according to heuristic fuzzy inference rules generated from previous experimental results. Validation of the proposed fuzzy logic controllers is also discussed.

Gasdynamic Mirror (GDM) Fusion Propulsion Engine Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The Gasdynamic Mirror, or GDM, is an example of a magnetic mirror-based fusion propulsion system. Its design is primarily consisting of a long slender solenoid surrounding a vacuum chamber that contains plasma. The bulk of the fusion plasma is confined by magnetic field generated by a series of toroidal-shaped magnets in the center section of the device. the purpose of the GDM Fusion Propulsion Experiment is to confirm the feasibility of the concept and to demonstrate many of the operational characteristics of a full-size plasma can be confined within the desired physical configuration and still reman stable. This image shows an engineer from Propulsion Research Technologies Division at Marshall Space Flight Center inspecting solenoid magnets-A, an integrate part of the Gasdynamic Mirror Fusion Propulsion Engine Experiment.

Process of constructing a lightweight x-ray flight mirror assembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McClelland, Ryan S.; Biskach, Michael P.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Espina, Rebecca A.; Hohl, Bruce R.; Saha, Timo T.; Zhang, William W.

2014-07-01

Lightweight and high resolution optics are needed for future space-based x-ray telescopes to achieve advances in highenergy astrophysics. NASA's Next Generation X-ray Optics (NGXO) project has made significant progress towards building such optics, both in terms of maturing the technology for spaceflight readiness and improving the angular resolution. Technology Development Modules (TDMs) holding three pairs of mirrors have been regularly and repeatedly integrated and tested both for optical performance and mechanical strength. X-ray test results have been improved over the past year from 10.3 arc-seconds Half Power Diameter (HPD) to 8.3 arc-seconds HPD. A vibration test has been completed to NASA standard verification levels showing the optics can survive launch and pointing towards improvements in strengthening the modules through redundant bonds. A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) study was completed which shows the mirror distortion caused by bonding is insensitive to the number of bonds. Next generation TDMs, which will demonstrate a lightweight structure and mount additional pairs of mirrors, have been designed and fabricated. The light weight of the module structure is achieved through the use of E-60 Beryllium Oxide metal matrix composite material. As the angular resolution of the development modules has improved, gravity distortion during horizontal x-ray testing has become a limiting factor. To address this issue, a facility capable of testing in the vertical orientation has been designed and planned. Test boring at the construction site suggest standard caisson construction methods can be utilized to install a subterranean vertical vacuum pipe. This facility will also allow for the testing of kinematically mounted mirror segments, which greatly reduces the effect of bonding displacements. A development platform demonstrating the feasibility of kinematically mounting mirror segments has been designed, fabricated, and successfully tested.

Composite panels for optical mirrors for Cherenkov Telescopes: development of the cold glass slumping technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canestrari, R.; Motta, G.; Pareschi, G.; Basso, S.; Doro, M.; Giro, E.; Lessio, L.

2010-07-01

In the last decade a new window for ground-based high energy astrophysics has been opened. It explores the energy band from about 100 GeV to 10 TeV making use of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). Research in Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy is improving rapidly and thanks to the newest facilities as MAGIC, HESS and VERITAS astronomers and particle physicists are obtaining surprising implications in the theoretical models. New projects have been started as the European Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and the U.S. Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS). The aim is to enhance both the sensitivity and the energy band coverage to perform imaging, photometry and spectroscopy of sources. In this framework, tens of thousands of optical mirror panels have to be manufactured, tested and mounted into the telescopes. Because of this high number of mirrors it is mandatory to develop a technique easily transferable to industrial mass production, but keeping the technical and cost-effectiveness requirements of the next generation of TeV telescopes. In this context the Astronomical Observatory of Brera (INAF-OAB) is investigating a technique for the manufacturing of stiff and lightweight glass mirror panels with modest angular resolution. These panels have a composite sandwich-like structure with two thin glass skins on both sides of a core material; the reflecting skin is optically shaped using an ad-hoc slumping procedure. The technology here presented is particularly attractive for the mass production of cost-effective mirror segments with long radius of curvature like those required in the primary mirrors of the next generation of Cherenkov telescopes. In this paper we present and discuss some relevant results we have obtained from the latest panels realized.

Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector Technologies for Particle Identification in the Electron-Ion Collider Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, X.

In the proposed Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) experiments, particle identification (PID) of the final state hadrons in the semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering allows the measurement of flavor-dependent gluon and quark distributions inside nucleons and nuclei. The EIC PID consortium (eRD14 Collaboration) has been formed for identifying and developing PID detectors using Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) techniques for the EIC experiments. A modular Ring Imaging Cherenkov (mRICH) detector has been designed for particle identification in the momentum coverage from 3 GeV/c to 10 GeV/c. The mRICH detector consists of an aerogel radiator block, a Fresnel lens, a mirror-wall and a photosensor plane. The first prototype of this detector was successfully tested at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in April 2016 for verifying the detector working principles. This talk will highlight the mRICH beam test results and their comparison with GEANT4-based detector simulations. An implementation of the mRICH detector concept in the Forward Angle sPHENIX spectrometer at BNL will also be mentioned in this talk.

Review of MSFC SBIR's: Xinetics RB-SiC Mirror Fabrication Study, UltraMet PG Foam Mirror Fabrication Study, Blue Line Eng. AI Enhanced Edge Sensors and Fully Active Subscale Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery, Edward E., IV; Brantley, Lott W. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This presentation will briefly review the objectives and anticipated benefits of several Small Business Innovative Research projects in progress under the direction of Marshall Space Flight Center. They all relate to the development of advanced optical systems technologies important to future astronomical missions in space.

Optimal glass-ceramic structures: Components of giant mirror telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eschenauer, Hans A.

1990-01-01

Detailed investigations are carried out on optimal glass-ceramic mirror structures of terrestrial space technology (optical telescopes). In order to find an optimum design, a nonlinear multi-criteria optimization problem is formulated. 'Minimum deformation' at 'minimum weight' are selected as contradictory objectives, and a set of further constraints (quilting effect, optical faults etc.) is defined and included. A special result of the investigations is described.

Diamond Technology Initiative

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-05-01

thermal stresses of 10 million Watts per meter, 1,000 times better than Zerodur *. This property is also important for many thermal management...products UTD has coated to date include: • Optical windows, lenses, and mirrors . Zinc sulfide infrared windows coated with a 2.5 micron-thick...implants 16, 49 microwave plasma-enhanced CVD 2 mirrors , diamond-coated 49 models of diamond growth 10, 25, 33, 34, 39 moderators 10

M1 Mirror Print-Thru Investigation and Performance on the Thermo-Opto-Mechanical Testbed for the Space Interferometry Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feria, V. Alfonso; Lam, Jonathan; Van Buren, Dave

2006-01-01

This paper presents the studies carried out to determine the source of the surface distortions on the M1 mirror as well as comparison and model validation during testing. This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Micro-Mechanical Voltage Tunable Fabry-Perot Filters Formed in (111) Silicon. Degree awarded by Colorado Univ., Boulder, CO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, James D.

1997-01-01

The MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) technology is quickly evolving as a viable means to combine micro-mechanical and micro-optical elements on the same chip. One MEMS technology that has recently gained attention by the research community is the micro-mechanical Fabry-Perot optical filter. A MEMS based Fabry-Perot consists of a vertically integrated structure composed of two mirrors separated by an air gap. Wavelength tuning is achieved by applying a bias between the two mirrors resulting in an attractive electrostatic force which pulls the mirrors closer. In this work, we present a new micro-mechanical Fabry-Perot structure which is simple to fabricate and is integratable with low cost silicon photodetectors and transistors. The structure consists of a movable gold coated oxide cantilever for the top mirror and a stationary Au/Ni plated silicon bottom mirror. The fabrication process is single mask level, self aligned, and requires only one grown or deposited layer. Undercutting of the oxide cantilever is carried out by a combination of RIE and anisotropic KOH etching of the (111) silicon substrate. Metallization of the mirrors is provided by thermal evaporation and electroplating. The optical and electrical characteristics of the fabricated devices were studied and show promissing results. A wavelength shift of 120nm with 53V applied bias was demonstrated by one device geometry using 6.27 micrometer air gap. The finesse of the structure was 2.4. Modulation bandwidths ranging from 91KHz to greater than 920KHz were also observed. Theoretical calculations show that if mirror reflectivity, smoothness, and parallelism are improved, a finesse of 30 is attainable. The predictions also suggest that a reduction of the air gap to 1 micrometer results in an increased wavelength tuning range of 175 nm with a CMOS compatible 4.75V.

Wavefront Sensing and Control Technology for Submillimeter and Far-Infrared Space Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Redding, Dave

2004-01-01

The NGST wavefront sensing and control system will be developed to TRL6 over the next few years, including testing in a cryogenic vacuum environment with traceable hardware. Doing this in the far-infrared and submillimeter is probably easier, as some aspects of the problem scale with wavelength, and the telescope is likely to have a more stable environment; however, detectors may present small complications. Since this is a new system approach, it warrants a new look. For instance, a large space telescope based on the DART membrane mirror design requires a new actuation approach. Other mirror and actuation technologies may prove useful as well.

Expanding Notions of Digital Access: Parents' Negotiation of School-Based Technology Initiatives in New Immigrant Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noguerón-Liu, Silvia

2017-01-01

Initiatives to integrate technology in schools are continuously increasing, with efforts to bridge the "homework gap" and provide technology access in low-income households. However, it is critical to include nondominant parents in technology adoption decisions in order to avoid mirroring past patterns of inequality in home-school…

A development roadmap for critical technologies needed for TALC: a deployable 20m annular space telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sauvage, Marc; Amiaux, Jérome; Austin, James; Bello, Mara; Bianucci, Giovanni; Chesné, Simon; Citterio, Oberto; Collette, Christophe; Correia, Sébastien; Durand, Gilles A.; Molinari, Sergio; Pareschi, Giovanni; Penfornis, Yann; Sironi, Giorgia; Valsecchi, Giuseppe; Verpoort, Sven; Wittrock, Ulrich

2016-07-01

Astronomy is driven by the quest for higher sensitivity and improved angular resolution in order to detect fainter or smaller objects. The far-infrared to submillimeter domain is a unique probe of the cold and obscured Universe, harboring for instance the precious signatures of key elements such as water. Space observations are mandatory given the blocking effect of our atmosphere. However the methods we have relied on so far to develop increasingly larger telescopes are now reaching a hard limit, with the JWST illustrating this in more than one way (e.g. it will be launched by one of the most powerful rocket, it requires the largest existing facility on Earth to be qualified). With the Thinned Aperture Light Collector (TALC) project, a concept of a deployable 20 m annular telescope, we propose to break out of this deadlock by developing novel technologies for space telescopes, which are disruptive in three aspects: • An innovative deployable mirror whose topology, based on stacking rather than folding, leads to an optimum ratio of collecting area over volume, and creates a telescope with an eight times larger collecting area and three times higher angular resolution compared to JWST from the same pre-deployed volume; • An ultra-light weight segmented primary mirror, based on electrodeposited Nickel, Composite and Honeycomb stacks, built with a replica process to control costs and mitigate the industrial risks; • An active optics control layer based on piezo-electric layers incorporated into the mirror rear shell allowing control of the shape by internal stress rather than by reaction on a structure. We present in this paper the roadmap we have built to bring these three disruptive technologies to technology readiness level 3. We will achieve this goal through design and realization of representative elements: segments of mirrors for optical quality verification, active optics implemented on representative mirror stacks to characterize the shape correction capabilities, and mechanical models for validation of the deployment concept. Accompanying these developments, a strong system activity will ensure that the ultimate goal of having an integrated system can be met, especially in terms of (a) scalability toward a larger structure, and (b) verification philosophy.

REOSC Delivers the Best Astronomical Mirror in the World to ESO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1999-12-01

On December 14, 1999, REOSC , the Optical Department of the SAGEM Group , finished the polishing of the fourth 8.2-m main mirror for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory. The mirror was today delivered to ESO at a ceremony at the REOSC factory in Saint Pierre du Perray, just south of Paris. The precision of the form of the mirror that was achieved during the polishing process is 8.5 nanometer (1 nanometer = 1 millionth of a millimetre) over the optical surface. This exceptional value corresponds to an optical resolution (theoretical image sharpness) of 0.03 arcseconds in the visible spectrum. This corresponds to distinguishing two objects separated by only 15 cm at a distance of 1000 km and will allow to detect astronomical objects that are 10,000 million times fainter than what can be perceived with the unaided eye. This impressive measure of quality, achieved by the REOSC teams during much painstaking work, implies that this VLT mirror is the most accurate in the world. In fact, all four 8.2-m VLT main mirrors polished by REOSC are well within the very strict specifications set by ESO, but this is the best of them all. The celebration today is the successful highlight of a contract initiated more than ten years ago, during which REOSC has perfected new polishing and control techniques - innovations improved and developed in a unique workshop dedicated to these giant mirrors. These methods and means are directly applicable to the new generations of segmented mirrors that are now being developed for astronomy and space observations. They are, in this sense, at the foremost front of optical technology. REOSC, the Optical Department of the SAGEM Group , is specialised in the study and realisation of high-precision optics for astronomy, space, defence, science and industry. For earlier information about the work on the VLT mirrors, cf. ESO Press Release 15/95 (13 November 1995). The SAGEM Group is a French high-technology group. It employs about 15,500 people - more information is available at URL: www.sagem.com. Information about the ESO and the VLT project is available via the ESO website: www.eso.org. Some Key Dates The polishing at REOSC of the main mirrors for the four VLT Unit Telescopes has been a major industrial feat. Here are some of the main dates: July 1989 ESO and REOSC sign contract for the polishing of the four 8.2-m and various associated activities July 1989 - April 1992 Design activities, construction of REOSC production plant April 1992 Mirror Container and concrete dummy mirror blank completed - test transport May 1992 Inauguration of REOSC production plant July 1993 Delivery of first 8.2-m mirror blank to ESO at Schott Glaswerke AG (Mainz, Germany) October 1994 Delivery of second 8.2-m mirror blank to ESO at Schott Glaswerke AG September 1995 Delivery of third 8.2-m mirror blank to ESO at Schott Glaswerke AG May 1996 Acceptance by ESO of first polished mirror at REOSC September 1996 Delivery of fourth 8.2-m mirror blank to ESO at Schott Glaswerke AG October 1996 Acceptance by ESO of second polished mirror at REOSC June 1997 Acceptance by ESO of third polished mirror at REOSC October - December 1997 Transport and delivery of first mirror to Paranal by Gondrand (France) August - September 1998 Transport and delivery of second mirror to Paranal by Gondrand December 1998 - January 1999 Transport and delivery of third mirror to Paranal by Gondrand December 1999 Acceptance by ESO of fourth polished mirror at REOSC February 1999 - April 2000 Transport and delivery of fourth mirror to Paranal by Gondrand Note [1] A Press Release on the REOSC event and the delivery of the fourth VLT main mirror to ESO is also published by SAGEM (in French and English). How to obtain ESO Press Information ESO Press Information is made available on the World-Wide Web (URL: http://www.eso.org../ ). ESO PR Photo 44/99 may be reproduced, if credit is given to SAGEM and the European Southern Observatory.

Polishing aspheric mirrors of zero-thermal expansion cordierite ceramics (NEXCERA) for space telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugawara, Jun; Kamiya, Tomohiro; Mikashima, Bumpei

2017-09-01

Ultra-low thermal expansion ceramics NEXCERATM is regarded as one of potential candidate materials crucial for ultralightweight and thermally-stable optical mirrors for space telescopes which are used in future optical missions satisfying extremely high observation specifications. To realize the high precision NEXCERA mirrors for space telescopes, it is important to develop a deterministic aspheric shape polishing and a precise figure correction polishing method for the NEXCERA. Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) was tested to the NEXCERA aspheric mirror from best fit sphere shape, because the MRF technology is regarded as the best suited process for a precise figure correction of the ultralightweight mirror with thin sheet due to its advantage of low normal force polishing. As using the best combination of material and MR fluid, the MRF was performed high precision figure correction and to induce a hyperbolic shape from a conventionally polished 100mm diameter sphere, and achieved the sufficient high figure accuracy and the high quality surface roughness. In order to apply the NEXCERA to a large scale space mirror, for the next step, a middle size solid mirror, 250 mm diameter concave parabola, was machined. It was roughly ground in the parabolic shape, and was lapped and polished by a computer-controlled polishing machine using sub-aperture polishing tools. It resulted in the smooth surface of 0.6 nm RMS and the figure accuracy of λ/4, being enough as pre-MRF surface. A further study of the NEXCERA space mirrors should be proceeded as a figure correction using the MRF to lightweight mirror with thin mirror sheet.

Nanolaminate Mirrors With "Piston" Figure-Control Actuators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lowman, Andrew; Redding, David; Hickey, Gregory; Knight, Jennifer; Moynihan, Philip; Lih, Shyh0Shiuh; Barbee, Troy

2003-01-01

Efforts are under way to develop a special class of thin-shell curved mirrors for high-resolution imaging in visible and infrared light in a variety of terrestrial or extraterrestrial applications. These mirrors can have diameters of the order of a meter and include metallic film reflectors on nanolaminate substrates supported by multiple distributed piezoceramic gpiston h-type actuators for micron-level figure control. Whereas conventional glass mirrors of equivalent size and precision have areal mass densities between 50 and 150 kg/sq m, the nanolaminate mirrors, including not only the reflector/ shell portions but also the actuators and the backing structures needed to react the actuation forces, would have areal mass densities that may approach .5 kg/m2. Moreover, whereas fabrication of a conventional glass mirror of equivalent precision takes several years, the reflector/shell portion of a nanolaminate mirror can be fabricated in less than a week, and its actuation system can be fabricated in 1 to 2 months. The engineering of these mirrors involves a fusion of the technological heritage of multisegmented adaptive optics and deformable mirrors with more recent advances in metallic nanolaminates and in mathematical modeling of the deflections of thin, curved shells in response to displacements by multiple, distributed actuators. Because a nanolaminate shell is of the order of 10 times as strong as an otherwise identical shell made of a single, high-strength, non-nanolaminate metal suitable for mirror use, a nanolaminate mirror can be made very thin (typically between 100 and 150 m from the back of the nanolaminate substrate to the front reflecting surface). The thinness and strength of the nanolaminate are what make it possible to use distributed gpiston h-type actuators for surface figure control with minimal local concentrated distortion (called print-through in the art) at the actuation points.

MEMS Deformable Mirror Technology Development for Space-Based Exoplanet Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bierden, Paul; Cornelissen, S.; Ryan, P.

2014-01-01

In the search for earth-like extrasolar planets that has become an important objective for NASA, a critical technology development requirement is to advance deformable mirror (DM) technology. High-actuator-count DMs are critical components for nearly all proposed coronagraph instrument concepts. The science case for exoplanet imaging is strong, and rapid recent advances in test beds with DMs made using microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology have motivated a number of compelling mission concepts that set technical specifications for their use as wavefront controllers. This research will advance the technology readiness of the MEMS DMs components that are currently at the forefront of the field, and the project will be led by the manufacturer of those components, Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC). The project aims to demonstrate basic functionality and performance of this key component in critical test environments and in simulated operational environments, while establishing model-based predictions of its performance relative to launch and space environments. Presented will be the current status of the project with modeling and initial test results.

Mirror-symmetric duplicated chromosome 21q with minor proximal deletion, and with neocentromere in a child without the classical Down syndrome phenotype.

PubMed

Barbi, G; Kennerknecht, I; Wöhr, G; Avramopoulos, D; Karadima, G; Petersen, M B

2000-03-13

We report on a mentally retarded child with multiple minor anomalies and an unusually rearranged chromosome 21. This der(21) chromosome has a deletion of 21p and of proximal 21q, whereas the main portion of 21q is duplicated leading to a mirror-symmetric appearance with the mirror axis at the breakpoint. The centromere is only characterized by a secondary constriction (with a centromeric index of a G chromosome) at an unexpected distal position, but fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with either chromosome specific or with all human centromeres alpha satellite DNA shows no cross hybridization. Thus, the marker chromosome represents a further example of an "analphoid marker with neocentromere." Molecular analysis using polymorphic markers on chromosome 21 verified a very small monosomic segment of the proximal long arm of chromosome 21, and additionally trisomy of the remaining distal segment. Although trisomic for almost the entire 21q arm, our patient shows no classical Down syndrome phenotype, but only a few minor anomalies found in trisomy 21 and in monosomy of proximal 21q, respectively. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Approaching sub-50 nanoradian measurements by reducing the saw-tooth deviation of the autocollimator in the Nano-Optic-Measuring Machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Shinan; Geckeler, Ralf D.; Just, Andreas; Idir, Mourad; Wu, Xuehui

2015-06-01

Since the development of the Nano-Optic-Measuring Machine (NOM), the accuracy of measuring the profile of an optical surface has been enhanced to the 100-nrad rms level or better. However, to update the accuracy of the NOM system to sub-50 nrad rms, the large saw-tooth deviation (269 nrad rms) of an existing electronic autocollimator, the Elcomat 3000/8, must be resolved. We carried out simulations to assess the saw-tooth-like deviation. We developed a method for setting readings to reduce the deviation to sub-50 nrad rms, suitable for testing plane mirrors. With this method, we found that all the tests conducted in a slowly rising section of the saw-tooth show a small deviation of 28.8 to <40 nrad rms. We also developed a dense-measurement method and an integer-period method to lower the saw-tooth deviation during tests of sphere mirrors. Further research is necessary for formulating a precise test for a spherical mirror. We present a series of test results from our experiments that verify the value of the improvements we made.

Fabrication of First 4-m Coils for the LARP MQXFA Quadrupole and Assembly in Mirror Structure

DOE PAGES

Holik, Eddie Frank; Ambrosio, Giorgio; Anerella, Michael; ...

2017-01-23

The US LHC Accelerator Research Program is constructing prototype interaction region quadrupoles as part of the US in-kind contribution to the Hi-Lumi LHC project. The low-beta MQXFA Q1/Q3 coils have a 4-m length and a 150 mm bore. The design is first validated on short, one meter models (MQXFS) developed as part of the longstanding Nb3Sn quadrupole R&D by LARP in collaboration with CERN. In parallel, facilities and tooling are being developed and refined at BNL, LBNL, and FNAL to enable long coil production, assembly, and cold testing. Long length scale-up is based on the experience from the LARP 90more » mm aperture (TQ-LQ) and 120 mm aperture (HQ and Long HQ) programs. A 4-m long MQXF practice coil was fabricated, water jet cut and analyzed to verify procedures, parts, and tooling. In parallel, the first complete prototype coil (QXFP01a) was fabricated and assembled in a long magnetic mirror, MQXFPM1, to provide early feedback on coil design and fabrication following the successful experience of previous LARP mirror tests.« less

A microwave resonance dew-point hygrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Underwood, R. J.; Cuccaro, R.; Bell, S.; Gavioso, R. M.; Madonna Ripa, D.; Stevens, M.; de Podesta, M.

2012-08-01

We report the first measurements of a quasi-spherical microwave resonator used as a dew-point hygrometer. In conventional dew-point hygrometers, the condensation of water from humid gas flowing over a mirror is detected optically, and the mirror surface is then temperature-controlled to yield a stable condensed layer. In our experiments we flowed moist air from a humidity generator through a quasi-spherical resonator and detected the onset of condensation by measuring the frequency ratio of selected microwave modes. We verified the basic operation of the device over the dew-point range 9.5-13.5 °C by comparison with calibrated chilled-mirror hygrometers. These tests indicate that the microwave method may allow a quantitative estimation of the volume and thickness of the water layer which is condensed on the inner surface of the resonator. The experiments reported here are preliminary due to the limited time available for the work, but show the potential of the method for detecting not only water but a variety of other liquid or solid condensates. The robust all-metal construction should make the device appropriate for use in industrial applications over a wide range of temperatures and pressures.

Global Radius of Curvature Estimation and Control for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rakoczy, John; Hall, Drew; Howard, Ricky; Ly, William; Weir, John; Montgomery, Edward; Brantley, Lott W. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A system, which estimates the global radius of curvature (GroC) and corrects for changes in GroC on a segmented primary mirror has been developed for and verified on McDonald Observatory's Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET). The GroC estimation and control system utilizes HET's primary mirror control (PMC) system and the Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS), an inductive edge sensor system. A special set of boundary conditions is applied to the derivation of the optimal edge match control. The special boundary conditions allow the further derivation of an observer, which enables estimation and control of the Groc mode to within HET's specification. The magnitude of the GroC mode can then be controlled despite the inability of the SAMS edge sensor system, by itself, to observe or control the GroC mode. The observer can be extended to any segmented mirror telescope. It will be shown that the observer improves with accuracy as the number of segments increases. This paper presents the mathematical theory of the observer. Simulation results will demonstrate the inherent accuracy and robustness of the system. Performance verification data from the HET will be presented.

Employing Omnidirectional Visual Control for Mobile Robotics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, J. R., Jr.; Jung, S.; Steplight, S.; Wright, J. R., Sr.; Das, A.

2000-01-01

Describes projects using conventional technologies--incorporation of relatively inexpensive visual control with mobile robots using a simple remote control vehicle platform, a camera, a mirror, and a computer. Explains how technology teachers can apply them in the classroom. (JOW)

Arc-Second Alignment of International X-Ray Observatory Mirror Segments in a Fixed Structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, Tyler, C.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Saha, Timo T.

2010-01-01

The optics for the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) require alignment and integration of about fourteen thousand thin mirror segments to achieve the mission goal of 3.0 square meters of effective area at 1.25 keV with an angular resolution of five arc-seconds. These mirror segments are 0.4 mm thick, and 200 to 400 mm in size, which makes it hard to meet the strict angular resolution requirement of 5 arc-seconds for the telescope. This paper outlines the precise alignment, verification testing, and permanent bonding techniques developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). These techniques are used to overcome the challenge of transferring thin mirror segments from a temporary mount to a fixed structure with arc-second alignment and minimal figure distortion. Recent advances in technology development in addition to the automation of several processes have produced significant results. Recent advances in the mirror fixture process known as the suspension mount has allowed for a mirror to be mounted to a fixture with minimal distortion. Once on the fixture, mirror segments have been aligned to around 5 arc-seconds which is halfway to the goal of 2.5 arc-seconds per mirror segment. This paper will highlight the recent advances in alignment, testing, and permanent bonding techniques as well as the results they have produced.

Solar Mirror Fabrication in the Technical Services Building

NASA Image and Video Library

1966-02-21

Daniel Bernatowicz, Chief of the Advanced Power Systems Branch at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center, examines a 20-foot section of a solar mirror being fabricated in the Jig Bore Room of the Technical Services Building. NASA Lewis was conducting a wide-ranging effort to explore methods of generating electrical power for spacecraft. One method employed a large parabolic mirror to concentrate the sun’s energy. The mirror had to remain rigid and withstand micrometeoroids, but remain light and compact enough to be easily launched. In 1963 Bernatowicz and his researchers undertook a program to design a solar mirror to work with the Brayton cycle system on a space station. The mirror in this photograph was prepared for a conference on Advanced Technology in Space Power Systems held at Lewis in late August 1966. Lewis experts discussed advances with batteries, fuel cells, isotope and thermoelectric generators, and the SNAP-8 space power system. Lewis was developing several types of solar mirrors to work with a Brayton cycle electric generating system. The mirror’s 12 sections were shaped using a unique forming process developed at Lewis, coated with an epoxy, and plated with aluminum. The mirror concentrated the Sun's rays on a heat storage receiver containing lithium fluoride. This material was heated to produce power in a turbogenerator system, while additional heat was stored for use when the unit was in the Earth's shadow.

Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing Algorithm for Coarse Phasing Segmented Mirror Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spechler, Joshua A.; Hoppe, Daniel J.; Sigrist, Norbert; Shi, Fang; Seo, Byoung-Joon; Bikkannavar, Siddarayappa A.

2013-01-01

Segment mirror phasing, a critical step of segment mirror alignment, requires the ability to sense and correct the relative pistons between segments from up to a few hundred microns to a fraction of wavelength in order to bring the mirror system to its full diffraction capability. When sampling the aperture of a telescope, using auto-collimating flats (ACFs) is more economical. The performance of a telescope with a segmented primary mirror strongly depends on how well those primary mirror segments can be phased. One such process to phase primary mirror segments in the axial piston direction is dispersed fringe sensing (DFS). DFS technology can be used to co-phase the ACFs. DFS is essentially a signal fitting and processing operation. It is an elegant method of coarse phasing segmented mirrors. DFS performance accuracy is dependent upon careful calibration of the system as well as other factors such as internal optical alignment, system wavefront errors, and detector quality. Novel improvements to the algorithm have led to substantial enhancements in DFS performance. The Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing (ADFS) Algorithm is designed to reduce the sensitivity to calibration errors by determining the optimal fringe extraction line. Applying an angular extraction line dithering procedure and combining this dithering process with an error function while minimizing the phase term of the fitted signal, defines in essence the ADFS algorithm.

Design and analysis of an active optics system for a 4-m telescope mirror combining hydraulic and pneumatic supports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lousberg, Gregory P.; Moreau, Vincent; Schumacher, Jean-Marc; Piérard, Maxime; Somja, Aude; Gloesener, Pierre; Flebus, Carlo

2015-09-01

AMOS has developed a hybrid active optics system that combines hydraulic and pneumatic properties of actuators to support a 4-m primary mirror. The mirror is intended to be used in the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST, formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope) that will be installed by the National Solar Observatory (NSO) atop the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. The mirror support design is driven by the needs of (1) minimizing the support-induced mirror distortions under telescope operating conditions, (2) shaping the mirror surface to the desired profile, and (3) providing a high stiffness against wind loads. In order to fulfill these requirements, AMOS proposes an innovative support design that consist of 118 axial actuators and 24 lateral actuators. The axial support is based on coupled hydraulic and pneumatic actuators. The hydraulic part is a passive system whose main function is to support the mirror weight with a high stiffness. The pneumatic part is actively controlled so as to compensate for low-order wavefront aberrations that are generated by the mirror support itself or by any other elements in the telescope optical chain. The performances of the support and its adequacy with the requirements are assessed with the help of a comprehensive analysis loop involving finite-element, thermal and optical modellings.

Numerical modeling and simulation studies for the M4 adaptive mirror of the E-ELT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carbillet, Marcel; Riccardi, Armando; Xompero, Marco

2012-07-01

We report in this paper on the progress of numerical modeling and simulation studies of the M4 adaptive mirror, a representative of the "adaptive secondary mirrors" technology, for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). This is based on both dedicated routines and the existing code of the Software Package CADS. The points approached are basically the specific problems encountered with this particular type of voice-coil adaptive mirrors on the E-ELT: (*) the segmentation of the adaptive mirror, implying a fitting error due also to the edges of its six petals, as well as possible co-phasing problems to be evaluated in terms of interaction with the wavefront sensor (a pyramid here); (**) the necessary presence of "master" and "slave" actuators which management, in terms of wavefront reconstruction, implies to consider different strategies. The on-going work being performed for the two above points is described in details, and some preliminary results are given.

Overview of MSFC AMSD Integrated Modeling and Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cummings, Ramona; Russell, Kevin (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Structural, thermal, dynamic, and optical models of the NGST AMSD mirror assemblies are being finalized and integrated for predicting cryogenic vacuum test performance of the developing designs. Analyzers in use by the MSFC Modeling and Analysis Team are identified, with overview of approach to integrate simulated effects. Guidelines to verify the individual models and calibration cases for comparison with the vendors' analyses are presented. In addition, baseline and proposed additional scenarios for the cryogenic vacuum testing are briefly described.

SiC lightweight telescopes for advanced space applications. II - Structures technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anapol, Michael I.; Hadfield, Peter; Tucker, Theodore

1992-01-01

A critical technology area for lightweight SiC-based telescope systems is the structural integrity and thermal stability over spaceborne environmental launch and thermal operating conditions. Note, it is highly desirable to have an inherently athermal design of both SiC mirrors and structure. SSG has developed an 8 inch diameter SiC telescope system for brassboard level optical and thermal testing. The brassboard telescope has demonstrated less than 0.2 waves P-V in the visible wavefront change over +50 C to -200 C temperature range. SSG has also fabricated a SiC truss structural assembly and successfully qualified this hardware at environmental levels greater than 3 times higher than normal Delta, Titan, and ARIES launch loads. SSG is currently developing two SiC telescopes; an 20 cm diameter off-axis 3 mirror re-imaging and a 60 cm aperture on-axis 3 mirror re-imager. Both hardware developments will be tested to flight level environmental, optical, and thermal specifications.

Characterization of low-mass deformable mirrors and ASIC drivers for high-contrast imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mejia Prada, Camilo; Yao, Li; Wu, Yuqian; Roberts, Lewis C.; Shelton, Chris; Wu, Xingtao

2017-09-01

The development of compact, high performance Deformable Mirrors (DMs) is one of the most important technological challenges for high-contrast imaging on space missions. Microscale Inc. has fabricated and characterized piezoelectric stack actuator deformable mirrors (PZT-DMs) and Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) drivers for direct integration. The DM-ASIC system is designed to eliminate almost all cables, enabling a very compact optical system with low mass and low power consumption. We report on the optical tests used to evaluate the performance of the DM and ASIC units. We also compare the results to the requirements for space-based high-contrast imaging of exoplanets.

Applications of tuned mass dampers to improve performance of large space mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yingling, Adam J.; Agrawal, Brij N.

2014-01-01

In order for future imaging spacecraft to meet higher resolution imaging capability, it will be necessary to build large space telescopes with primary mirror diameters that range from 10 m to 20 m and do so with nanometer surface accuracy. Due to launch vehicle mass and volume constraints, these mirrors have to be deployable and lightweight, such as segmented mirrors using active optics to correct mirror surfaces with closed loop control. As a part of this work, system identification tests revealed that dynamic disturbances inherent in a laboratory environment are significant enough to degrade the optical performance of the telescope. Research was performed at the Naval Postgraduate School to identify the vibration modes most affecting the optical performance and evaluate different techniques to increase damping of those modes. Based on this work, tuned mass dampers (TMDs) were selected because of their simplicity in implementation and effectiveness in targeting specific modes. The selected damping mechanism was an eddy current damper where the damping and frequency of the damper could be easily changed. System identification of segments was performed to derive TMD specifications. Several configurations of the damper were evaluated, including the number and placement of TMDs, damping constant, and targeted structural modes. The final configuration consisted of two dampers located at the edge of each segment and resulted in 80% reduction in vibrations. The WFE for the system without dampers was 1.5 waves, with one TMD the WFE was 0.9 waves, and with two TMDs the WFE was 0.25 waves. This paper provides details of some of the work done in this area and includes theoretical predictions for optimum damping which were experimentally verified on a large aperture segmented system.

Design and fabrication of a self-aligned parallel-plate-type silicon micromirror minimizing the effect of misalignment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoo, Byung-Wook; Park, Jae-Hyoung; Jin, Joo-Young; Jang, Yun-Ho; Kim, Yong-Kweon

2009-05-01

This paper describes a self-alignment method whereby a mirror actuation voltage, corresponding to a specific tilting angle, is unvarying in terms of misalignment during fabrication. A deep silicon etching process is proposed to penetrate the top silicon layer (the micromirror layer) and an amorphous silicon layer (the addressing electrode layer) together, through an aluminum mask pattern, in order to minimize the misalignment effect on the micromirror actuation. The size of a fabricated mirror plate is 250 × 250 × 4 µm3. A pair of amorphous silicon electrodes under the mirror plate is about half the size of the mirror plate individually. Numerical analysis associated with calculating the pull-in voltage and the bonding misalignment is performed to verify the self-alignment concepts focused upon in this paper. Curves of the applied voltage versus the tilt angle of the self-aligned micromirror are observed using a position sensing detector in order to compare the measurement results with MATLAB analysis of the expected static deflections. Although a 3.7 µm misalignment is found between the mirror plate and the electrodes, in the direction perpendicular to the shallow trench of the electrodes, before the self-alignment process, the measured pull-in voltage has been found to be 103.4 V on average; this differs from the pull-in voltage of a perfectly aligned micromirror by only 0.67%. Regardless of the unpredictable misalignments in repetitive photolithography and bonding, the tilting angles corresponding to the driving voltages are proved to be uniform along the single axis as well as conform to the results of analytical analysis.

Sparse aperture differential piston measurements using the pyramid wave-front sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcidiacono, Carmelo; Chen, Xinyang; Yan, Zhaojun; Zheng, Lixin; Agapito, Guido; Wang, Chaoyan; Zhu, Nenghong; Zhu, Liyun; Cai, Jianqing; Tang, Zhenghong

2016-07-01

In this paper we report on the laboratory experiment we settled in the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) to investigate the pyramid wave-front sensor (WFS) ability to measure the differential piston on a sparse aperture. The ultimate goal is to verify the ability of the pyramid WFS work in close loop to perform the phasing of the primary mirrors of a sparse Fizeau imaging telescope. In the experiment we installed on the optical bench we performed various test checking the ability to flat the wave-front using a deformable mirror and to measure the signal of the differential piston on a two pupils setup. These steps represent the background from which we start to perform full close loop operation on multiple apertures. These steps were also useful to characterize the achromatic double pyramids (double prisms) manufactured in the SHAO optical workshop.

Close-loop performance of a high precision deflectometry controlled deformable mirror (DCDM) unit for wavefront correction in adaptive optics system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Lei; Zhou, Chenlu; Zhao, Wenchuan; Choi, Heejoo; Graves, Logan; Kim, Daewook

2017-06-01

We present a high precision deflectometry system (DS) controlled deformable mirror (DM) solution for optical system. Different from wavefront and non-wavefront system, the DS and the DM are set to be an individual integrated DCDM unit and can be installed in one base plate. In the DCDM unit, the DS can directly provide the influence functions and surface shape of the DM to the industrial computer in any adaptive optics system. As an integrated adaptive unit, the DCDM unit could be put into various optical systems to realize aberration compensation. In this paper, the configuration and principle of the DCDM unit is introduced first. Theoretical simulation on the close-loop performance of the DCDM unit is carried out. Finally, a verification experiment is proposed to verify the compensation capability of the DCDM unit.

X-ray metrology and performance of a 45-cm long x-ray deformable mirror

DOE PAGES

Poyneer, Lisa A.; Brejnholt, Nicolai F.; Hill, Randall; ...

2016-05-20

We describe experiments with a 45-cm long x-ray deformable mirror (XDM) that have been conducted in End Station 2, Beamline 5.3.1 at the Advanced Light Source. A detailed description of the hardware implementation is provided. We explain our one-dimensional Fresnel propagation code that correctly handles grazing incidence and includes a model of the XDM. This code is used to simulate and verify experimental results. Initial long trace profiler metrology of the XDM at 7.5 keV is presented. The ability to measure a large (150-nm amplitude) height change on the XDM is demonstrated. The results agree well with the simulated experimentmore » at an error level of 1 μrad RMS. Lastly, direct imaging of the x-ray beam also shows the expected change in intensity profile at the detector.« less

X-ray metrology and performance of a 45-cm long x-ray deformable mirror

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poyneer, Lisa A., E-mail: poyneer1@llnl.gov; Brejnholt, Nicolai F.; Hill, Randall

2016-05-15

We describe experiments with a 45-cm long x-ray deformable mirror (XDM) that have been conducted in End Station 2, Beamline 5.3.1 at the Advanced Light Source. A detailed description of the hardware implementation is provided. We explain our one-dimensional Fresnel propagation code that correctly handles grazing incidence and includes a model of the XDM. This code is used to simulate and verify experimental results. Initial long trace profiler metrology of the XDM at 7.5 keV is presented. The ability to measure a large (150-nm amplitude) height change on the XDM is demonstrated. The results agree well with the simulated experimentmore » at an error level of 1 μrad RMS. Direct imaging of the x-ray beam also shows the expected change in intensity profile at the detector.« less

Swing arm profilometer: analytical solutions of misalignment errors for testing axisymmetric optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Ling; Luo, Xiao; Liu, Zhenyu; Wang, Xiaokun; Hu, Haixiang; Zhang, Feng; Zheng, Ligong; Zhang, Xuejun

2016-07-01

The swing arm profilometer (SAP) has been playing a very important role in testing large aspheric optics. As one of most significant error sources that affects the test accuracy, misalignment error leads to low-order errors such as aspherical aberrations and coma apart from power. In order to analyze the effect of misalignment errors, the relation between alignment parameters and test results of axisymmetric optics is presented. Analytical solutions of SAP system errors from tested mirror misalignment, arm length L deviation, tilt-angle θ deviation, air-table spin error, and air-table misalignment are derived, respectively; and misalignment tolerance is given to guide surface measurement. In addition, experiments on a 2-m diameter parabolic mirror are demonstrated to verify the model; according to the error budget, we achieve the SAP test for low-order errors except power with accuracy of 0.1 μm root-mean-square.

Study on a two-dimensional scanning micro-mirror and its application in a MOEMS target detector.

PubMed

Zhang, Chi; You, Zheng; Huang, Hu; Li, Guanhua

2010-01-01

A two-dimensional (2D) scanning micro-mirror for target detection and measurement has been developed. This new micro-mirror is used in a MOEMS target detector to replace the conventional scanning detector. The micro-mirror is fabricated by MEMS process and actuated by a piezoelectric actuator. To achieve large deflection angles, the micro-mirror is excited in the resonance modes. It has two degrees of freedom and changes the direction of the emitted laser beam for a regional 2D scanning. For the deflection angles measurement, piezoresistors are integrated in the micro-mirror and the deflection angles of each direction can be detected independently and precisely. Based on the scanning micro-mirror and the phase-shift ranging technology, a MOEMS target detector has been developed in a size of 90 mm × 35 mm × 50 mm. The experiment shows that the target can be detected in the scanning field and the relative range and orientation can be measured by the MOEMS target detector. For the target distance up to 3 m with a field of view about 20° × 20°, the measurement resolution is about 10.2 cm in range, 0.15° in the horizontal direction and 0.22° in the vertical direction for orientation.

Study on a Two-Dimensional Scanning Micro-Mirror and Its Application in a MOEMS Target Detector

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chi; You, Zheng; Huang, Hu; Li, Guanhua

2010-01-01

A two-dimensional (2D) scanning micro-mirror for target detection and measurement has been developed. This new micro-mirror is used in a MOEMS target detector to replace the conventional scanning detector. The micro-mirror is fabricated by MEMS process and actuated by a piezoelectric actuator. To achieve large deflection angles, the micro-mirror is excited in the resonance modes. It has two degrees of freedom and changes the direction of the emitted laser beam for a regional 2D scanning. For the deflection angles measurement, piezoresistors are integrated in the micro-mirror and the deflection angles of each direction can be detected independently and precisely. Based on the scanning micro-mirror and the phase-shift ranging technology, a MOEMS target detector has been developed in a size of 90 mm × 35 mm × 50 mm. The experiment shows that the target can be detected in the scanning field and the relative range and orientation can be measured by the MOEMS target detector. For the target distance up to 3 m with a field of view about 20° × 20°, the measurement resolution is about 10.2 cm in range, 0.15° in the horizontal direction and 0.22° in the vertical direction for orientation. PMID:22163580

Spherical primary optical telescope (SPOT) segments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Christopher; Hagopian, John; DeMarco, Michael

2012-09-01

The spherical primary optical telescope (SPOT) project is an internal research and development program at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The goals of the program are to develop a robust and cost effective way to manufacture spherical mirror segments and demonstrate a new wavefront sensing approach for continuous phasing across the segmented primary. This paper focuses on the fabrication of the mirror segments. Significant cost savings were achieved through the design, since it allowed the mirror segments to be cast rather than machined from a glass blank. Casting was followed by conventional figuring at Goddard Space Flight Center. After polishing, the mirror segments were mounted to their composite assemblies. QED Technologies used magnetorheological finishing (MRF®) for the final figuring. The MRF process polished the mirrors while they were mounted to their composite assemblies. Each assembly included several magnetic invar plugs that extended to within an inch of the face of the mirror. As part of this project, the interaction between the MRF magnetic field and invar plugs was evaluated. By properly selecting the polishing conditions, MRF was able to significantly improve the figure of the mounted segments. The final MRF figuring demonstrates that mirrors, in the mounted configuration, can be polished and tested to specification. There are significant process capability advantes due to polishing and testing the optics in their final, end-use assembled state.

Fabrication of large aperture SiC brazing mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ang; Wang, Peipei; Dong, Huiwen; Wang, Peng

2016-10-01

The SiC brazing mirror is the mirror whose blank is made by assembling together smaller SiC pieces with brazing technique. Using such kinds of joining techniques, people can manufacture large and complex SiC assemblies. The key technologies of fabricating and testing SiC brazing flat mirror especially for large aperture were studied. The SiC brazing flat mirror was ground by smart ultrasonic-milling machine, and then it was lapped by the lapping smart robot and measured by Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM). After the PV of the surface below 4um, we did classic coarse polishing to the surface and studied the shape of the polishing tool which directly effects removal amount distribution. Finally, it was figured by the polishing smart robot and measured by Fizeau interferometer. We also studied the influence of machining path and removal functions of smart robots on the manufacturing results and discussed the use of abrasive in this process. At last, an example for fabricating and measuring a similar SiC brazing flat mirror with the aperture of 600 mm made by Shanghai Institute of Ceramics was given. The mirror blank consists of 6 SiC sectors and the surface was finally processed to a result of the Peak-to-Valley (PV) 150nm and Root Mean Square (RMS) 12nm.

Using iridium films to compensate for piezo-electric materials processing stresses in adjustable x-ray optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ames, A.; Bruni, R.; Cotroneo, V.; Johnson-Wilke, R.; Kester, T.; Reid, P.; Romaine, S.; Tolier-McKinstry, S.; Wilke, R. H. T.

2015-09-01

Adjustable X-ray optics represent a potential enabling technology for simultaneously achieving large effective area and high angular resolution for future X-ray Astronomy missions. The adjustable optics employ a bimorph mirror composed of a thin (1.5 μm) film of piezoelectric material deposited on the back of a 0.4 mm thick conical mirror segment. The application of localized electric fields in the piezoelectric material, normal to the mirror surface, result in localized deformations in mirror shape. Thus, mirror fabrication and mounting induced figure errors can be corrected, without the need for a massive reaction structure. With this approach, though, film stresses in the piezoelectric layer, resulting from deposition, crystallization, and differences in coefficient of thermal expansion, can distort the mirror. The large relative thickness of the piezoelectric material compared to the glass means that even 100MPa stresses can result in significant distortions. We have examined compensating for the piezoelectric processing related distortions by the deposition of controlled stress chromium/iridium films on the front surface of the mirror. We describe our experiments with tuning the product of the chromium/iridium film stress and film thickness to balance that resulting from the piezoelectric layer. We also evaluated the repeatability of this deposition process, and the robustness of the iridium coating.

Looking Back in Time: Building the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Telescope Element

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feinberg, Lee

2016-01-01

When it launches in 2018, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will look back in time at the earliest stars and galaxies forming in the universe. This talk will look back in time at the development of the JWST telescope. This will include a discussion of the design, technology development, mirror development, wave front sensing and control algorithms, lightweight cryogenic deployable structure, pathfinder telescope, and integration and test program evolution and status. The talk will provide the engineering answers on why the mirrors are made of Beryllium, why there are 18 segments, where and how the mirrors were made, how the mirrors get aligned using the main science camera, and how the telescope is being tested. It will also look back in time at the many dedicated people all over the country who helped build it.

Advanced optical manufacturing and testing; Proceedings of the Meeting, San Diego, CA, July 9-11, 1990

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanger, Gregory M.; Reid, Paul B.; Baker, Lionel R.

1990-11-01

Consideration is given to advanced optical fabrication, profilometry and thin films, and metrology. Particular attention is given to automation for optics manufacturing, 3D contouring on a numerically controlled grinder, laser-scanning lens configurations, a noncontact precision measurement system, novel noncontact profiler design for measuring synchrotron radiation mirrors, laser-diode technologies for in-process metrology, measurements of X-ray reflectivities of Au-coatings at several energies, platinum coating of an X-ray mirror for SR lithography, a Hilbert transform algorithm for fringe-pattern analysis, structural error sources during fabrication of the AXAF optical elements, an in-process mirror figure qualification procedure for large deformable mirrors, interferometric evaluation of lenslet arrays for 2D phase-locked laser diode sources, and manufacturing and metrology tooling for the solar-A soft X-ray telescope.

Micromirror Arrays for Adaptive Optics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carr, E.J.

The long-range goal of this project is to develop the optical and mechanical design of a micromirror array for adaptive optics that will meet the following criteria: flat mirror surface ({lambda}/20), high fill factor (> 95%), large stroke (5-10 {micro}m), and pixel size {approx}-200 {micro}m. This will be accomplished by optimizing the mirror surface and actuators independently and then combining them using bonding technologies that are currently being developed.

Research Technology

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-08-01

Researchers at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have designed, fabricated and tested the first solar thermal engine, a non-chemical rocket engine that produces lower thrust but has better thrust efficiency than a chemical combustion engine. MSFC turned to solar thermal propulsion in the early 1990s due to its simplicity, safety, low cost, and commonality with other propulsion systems. Solar thermal propulsion works by acquiring and redirecting solar energy to heat a propellant. This photograph, taken at MSFC's Solar Thermal Propulsion Test Facility, shows a concentrator mirror, a combination of 144 mirrors forming this 18-ft diameter concentrator, and a vacuum chamber that houses the focal point. The 20- by 24-ft heliostat mirror (not shown in this photograph) has a dual-axis control that keeps a reflection of the sunlight on the 18-foot diameter concentrator mirror, which then focuses the sunlight to a 4-in focal point inside the vacuum chamber. The focal point has 10 kilowatts of intense solar power. As part of MSFC's Space Transportation Directorate, the Propulsion Research Center serves as a national resource for research of advanced, revolutionary propulsion technologies. The mission is to move the Nation's capabilities beyond the confines of conventional chemical propulsion into an era of aircraft-like access to Earth-orbit, rapid travel throughout the solar system, and exploration of interstellar space.

New technologies for the actuation and controls of large aperture lightweight quality mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lih, S. S.; Yang, E. H.; Gullapalli, S. N.; Flood, R.

2003-01-01

This paper presents a set of candidate components: MEMS based large stroke (>100 microns) ultra lightweight (0.01 gm) discrete inch worm actuator technology, and a distributed actuator technology, in the context of a novel lightweight active flexure-hinged substrate concept that uses the nanolaminate face sheet.

Technology and Speech Training: An Affair to Remember.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levitt, Harry

1989-01-01

A history of speech training technology is presented, from the simple hand-held mirror to complicated computer-based systems and tactile devices, and subsequent papers in this theme issue are introduced. Both the advantages and problems of technological aids are addressed. Simplicity in the application and use of speech training aids is stressed.…

WFIRST-AFTA Overview Technology needs summary Mirror Technology Conference 2015

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marx, Catherine (Editor); Content, David; Zhao, Feng

2015-01-01

Presentation covers the overview of the science and hardware of the WFIRST-AFTA (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope) (Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets) mission. It includes an overview of the technology, with an emphasis on optics technology. It also introduces the WFIRST talks that come later, one on the Wide Field Instrument filters and the other on the CoronaGraph Instrument.

A New Mirror for the Classroom: A Technology-Based Tool for Documenting the Impact of Technology on Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gearhart, Maryl; And Others

One of the new measures developed as part of the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) program is described. The ACOT project examines the impact of access to educational technology on the kindergarten through grade 12 classroom environments. The new measure is a technology-based classroom observation instrument for documenting the impact of…

Large optics for the National Ignition Facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baisden, P.

2015-01-12

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser with its 192 independent laser beams is not only the world’s largest laser, it is also the largest optical system ever built. With its 192 independent laser beams, the NIF requires a total of 7648 large-aperture (meter-sized) optics. One of the many challenges in designing and building NIF has been to carry out the research and development on optical materials, optics design, and optics manufacturing and metrology technologies needed to achieve NIF’s high output energies and precision beam quality. This paper describes the multiyear, multi-supplier, development effort that was undertaken to develop the advancedmore » optical materials, coatings, fabrication technologies, and associated process improvements necessary to manufacture the wide range of NIF optics. The optics include neodymium-doped phosphate glass laser amplifiers; fused silica lenses, windows, and phase plates; mirrors and polarizers with multi-layer, high-reflectivity dielectric coatings deposited on BK7 substrates; and potassium di-hydrogen phosphate crystal optics for fast optical switches, frequency conversion, and polarization rotation. Also included is a discussion of optical specifications and custom metrology and quality-assurance tools designed, built, and fielded at supplier sites to verify compliance with the stringent NIF specifications. In addition, a brief description of the ongoing program to improve the operational lifetime (i.e., damage resistance) of optics exposed to high fluence in the 351-nm (3ω) is provided.« less

Rollable Thin-Shell Nanolaminate Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hickey, Gregory; Lih, Shyh-Shiuh; Barbee, Troy, Jr.

2003-01-01

A class of lightweight, deployable, thin-shell, curved mirrors with built-in precise-shape-control actuators is being developed for high-resolution scientific imaging. This technology incorporates a combination of advanced design concepts in actuation and membrane optics that, heretofore, have been considered as separate innovations. These mirrors are conceived to be stowed compactly in a launch shroud and transported aboard spacecraft, then deployed in outer space to required precise shapes at much larger dimensions (diameters of the order of meters or tens of meters). A typical shell rollable mirror structure would include: (1) a flexible single- or multiple-layer face sheet that would include an integrated reflective surface layer that would constitute the mirror; (2) structural supports in the form of stiffeners made of a shape-memory alloy (SMA); and (3) piezoelectric actuators. The actuators, together with an electronic control subsystem, would implement a concept of hierarchical distributed control, in which (1) the SMA actuators would be used for global shape control and would generate the large deformations needed for the deployment process and (2) the piezoelectric actuators would generate smaller deformations and would be used primarily to effect fine local control of the shape of the mirror.

Characterization and Design of Digital Pointing Subsystem for Optical Communication Demonstrator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Racho, C.; Portillo, A.

1998-01-01

The Optical Communications Demonstrator (OCD) is a laboratory-based lasercom demonstration terminal designed to validate several key technologies, including beacon acquisition, high bandwidth tracking, precision bearn pointing, and point-ahead compensation functions. It has been under active development over the past few years. The instrument uses a CCD array detector for both spatial acquisition and high-bandwidth tracking, and a fiber coupled laser transmitter. The array detector tracking concept provides wide field-of-view acquisition and permits effective platform jitter compensation and point-ahead control using only one steering mirror. This paper describes the detailed design and characterization of the digital control loop system which includes the Fast Steering Mirror (FSM), the CCD image tracker, and the associated electronics. The objective is to improve the overall system performance using laboratory measured data. The. design of the digital control loop is based on a linear time invariant open loop model. The closed loop performance is predicted using the theoretical model. With the digital filter programmed into the OCD control software, data is collected to verify the predictions. This paper presents the results of the, system modeling and performance analysis. It has been shown that measurement data closely matches theoretical predictions. An important part of the laser communication experiment is the ability of FSM to track the laser beacon within the. required tolerances. The pointing must be maintained to an accuracy that is much smaller than the transmit signal beamwidth. For an earth orbit distance, the system must be able to track the receiving station to within a few microradians. The failure. to do so will result in a severely degraded system performance.

Multilayer active shell mirrors for space telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steeves, John; Jackson, Kathryn; Pellegrino, Sergio; Redding, David; Wallace, J. Kent; Bradford, Samuel Case; Barbee, Troy

2016-07-01

A novel active mirror technology based on carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) substrates and replication techniques has been developed. Multiple additional layers are implemented into the design serving various functions. Nanolaminate metal films are used to provide a high quality reflective front surface. A backing layer of thin active material is implemented to provide the surface-parallel actuation scheme. Printed electronics are used to create a custom electrode pattern and flexible routing layer. Mirrors of this design are thin (< 1.0 mm), lightweight (2.7 kg/m2), and have large actuation capabilities. These capabilities, along with the associated manufacturing processes, represent a significant change in design compared to traditional optics. Such mirrors could be used as lightweight primaries for small CubeSat-based telescopes or as meter-class segments for future large aperture observatories. Multiple mirrors can be produced under identical conditions enabling a substantial reduction in manufacturing cost and complexity. An overview of the mirror design and manufacturing processes is presented. Predictions on the actuation performance have been made through finite element simulations demonstrating correctabilities on the order of 250-300× for astigmatic modes with only 41 independent actuators. A description of the custom metrology system used to characterize the active mirrors is also presented. The system is based on a Reverse Hartmann test and can accommodate extremely large deviations in mirror figure (> 100 μm PV) down to sub-micron precision. The system has been validated against several traditional techniques including photogrammetry and interferometry. The mirror performance has been characterized using this system, as well as closed-loop figure correction experiments on 150 mm dia. prototypes. The mirrors have demonstrated post-correction figure accuracies of 200 nm RMS (two dead actuators limiting performance).

Seeing the Universe: On the Cusp of Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Impey, C.

2009-08-01

Since Galileo Galilei turned his modest spyglass to the night sky 400 years ago, his heirs have enhanced his legacy by the method of using successively larger lenses, and then concave mirrors. Astronomers have even succeeded in stilling the night air with flexible optics, letting their telescopes register the sharpest images that optics will allow. New technologies allow the creation of telescopes that would be unrecognizable to Galileo. They don't use glass mirrors or lenses and they often gather radiation that's invisible to the eye. Astronomers have even managed to use the Earth as a telescope. These innovations have given us a sharper vision of the universe, and a better sense of our place in space and time.

["Mirror, mirror on the wall", the issue of digital technology in adolescent mental healthcare].

PubMed

Pommereau, Xavier

The digital revolution is turning lifestyles and mentalities upside down. The intuitiveness, immediacy and connectivity which characterise new information and communication technologies appeal to teenagers who find in them ways to gain recognition from their peers and to exchange with each other, without having to yield to adults. However, they expect mental health professionals to talk to them, to be engaged in their discussions and to agree to use connected tools as platforms for exchange. A wide variety of such methods can form part of the therapeutic relationship, from smartphones to chat rooms, from teleconsultations to 'cybertherapies', and from video games to serious games. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

X-Ray Optics for the 2020's

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Will

2010-01-01

X-ray optics is an essential and enabling technology for x-ray astronomy. This slide presentation presents the authors views on the requirements for x-ray optics as progress is made toward building IXO and preparing for the 2020's. The presentation reviews the status of several technologies that are being developed and outlines the steps that we as a community needs to take to move toward x-ray optics meeting the five key requirements: (1) high angular resolution, (2) large effective area, (3) low mass, (4) fast production, and (5) low cost. There is discussion of segmentation vs full shell, size of the mirror segment, mirror segment frabrication, post-slumping figure improvement, and characterization of coating quality.

Digital Image Access & Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heidorn, P. Bryan, Ed.; Sandore, Beth, Ed.

Recent technological advances in computing and digital imaging technology have had immediate and permanent consequences for visual resource collections. Libraries are involved in organizing and managing large visual resource collections. The central challenges in working with digital image collections mirror those that libraries have sought to…

Comparison of Structural Optimization Techniques for a Nuclear Electric Space Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benford, Andrew

2003-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to utilize the optimization method of genetic algorithms (GA) for truss design on a nuclear propulsion vehicle. Genetic Algorithms are a guided, random search that mirrors Darwin s theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest. To verify the GA s capabilities, other traditional optimization methods were used to compare the results obtained by the GA's, first on simple 2-D structures, and eventually on full-scale 3-D truss designs.

G-structures and domain walls in heterotic theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukas, Andre; Matti, Cyril

2011-01-01

We consider heterotic string solutions based on a warped product of a four-dimensional domain wall and a six-dimensional internal manifold, preserving two supercharges. The constraints on the internal manifolds with SU(3) structure are derived. They are found to be generalized half-flat manifolds with a particular pattern of torsion classes and they include half-flat manifolds and Strominger's complex non-Kahler manifolds as special cases. We also verify that previous heterotic compactifications on half-flat mirror manifolds are based on this class of solutions.

High-performance mirror for space applications using anodic bonding technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, W.; Fischer, E.; Kemper, J.; Koch, S.; Kolberg, J.; Kramer, C.; Kunde, J.; Läger, M.

2017-11-01

Berliner Glas developed and manufactured the plane elliptical shaped mirrors for the Synopta Coarse Pointing Assembly (CPA) being one of the key elements of the TESAT Spacecom Laser Communication Terminals (LCT's). The first TESAT LCT containing a Synopta CPA was embarked on Sentinel 1A and is in orbit since April 2014. TESAT Spacecom LCT's have been successfully tested in space since 2007 and are now operationally used in commercial satellite communication systems.

The Infrared & Electro-Optical Systems Handbook. Emerging Systems and Technologies, Volume 8

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

usually associated with turbulence in the intervening path or to significant nonuniformities in com- position or temperature of the air within the field of...cause beam quality to be less than perfect. Coatings on the mirrors can also be nonuniform , leading to further OPD effects. Resonator misalignment...despite an undesired spherical error). Coatings can be nonuniform in their thickness. This thickness nonuniform - ity is equivalent to a mirror fabrication

An Evaluation of the Instruction Carried out with Printed Laboratory Materials Designed in Accordance with 5E Model: Reflection of Light and Image on a Plane Mirror

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayvaci, Hakan Sevki; Yildiz, Mehmet; Bakirci, Hasan

2015-01-01

This study employed a print laboratory material based on 5E model of constructivist learning approach to teach reflection of light and Image on a Plane Mirror. The effect of the instruction which conducted with the designed print laboratory material on academic achievements of prospective science and technology teachers and their attitudes towards…

Navy Shipboard Lasers for Surface, Air, and Missile Defense: Background and Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-27

include silicon carbide ( SiC )- based transistors, transformers and power converters. “ SiC is important because it improves power quality and reduces size...existing shipboard gun systems. An airborne mirror , perhaps mounted on an aerostat,11 could bounce light from a shipboard laser, so as to permit non-line...super conducting RF electron beam injectors, advanced high power cathode technologies, high power compact amplifiers, and advanced mirrors

TMA optics for HISUI HSS and MSS imagers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodolfo, J.; Geyl, R.; Leplan, H.; Ruch, E.

2017-11-01

Sagem is presently working on a new project for the Japanese HISUI instrument made from a Hyper Spectral Sensor and a Multi Spectral Sensor, both including a Three Mirror Anastigmat (TMA) main optics. Mirrors are made from Zerodur from Schott but also from NTSIC, the New Technology Silicon Carbide developed in Japan. This report is also the opportunity to show to the community Sagem recent progress in precision TMA optics polishing and alignment.

NIRSpec optics development: final report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geyl, R.; Ruch, E.; Vayssade, H.; Leplan, H.; Rodolfo, J.

2017-11-01

As shown and discussed on a Sagem poster presented at the ICSO 2010 conference [1], scientific or commercial earth observation space instruments are more and more taking advantage of the remarkable properties of Silicon Carbide in term of hardness, stiffness and thermal stability combined with a reasonable density which are indeed of primary importance for all space applications. Sagem-REOSC High Performance Optics Unit works on the polishing, coating and integration technologies of SiC mirrors since more than ten year through various successful space programs for various customers: INSAT 3D scan mirror, ROCSAT II and SPIRALE main telescopes, GAIA large primary mirrors and Auto-collimation flats, …). This paper aims to provide to the international space community an exhaustive vision of the work performed by Sagem-REOSC on the polishing, coating and integration of the three Three Mirror Anastigmats of the NIRSpec spectrographic instrument which is the main ESA contribution to the JWST.

Design of off-axis four-mirror optical system without obscuration based on free-form surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Chenxu; Liu, Xin

2015-11-01

With the development of modern military technology, the requirements of airborne electro-optical search and tracking system are increasing on target detection and recognition. However, traditional off-axis three-mirror system couldn't meet the requirements for reducing weight and compacting size in some circumstances. Based on Seidel aberration theory, by restricting the aberration functions, the optical system could achieve initial construction parameters. During the designing process, decenters and tilts of mirrors were adjusted continuously to eliminate the obscurations. To balance off-axis aberration and increase angle of view, the free-form mirror was introduced into the optical system. Then an unobstructed optical system with effective focal length of 100 mm, FOV of 16°×16°, and relative aperture as F/7 is designed. The results show that the system structure is compact, with imaging qualities approaching diffraction limit.

Alignment System for Full-Shell Replicated X-Ray Mirrors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gubarev, Mikhail; Arnold, William; Ramsey, Brian

2009-01-01

We are developing grazing-incidence x-ray optics for high-energy astrophysical applications using the electroformnickel replication process. For space-based applications these optics must be light-weight yet stable, which dictates the use of very-thin-walled full-shell mirrors. Such shells have been fabricated with resolution as good as 11 arcsec for hard x-rays, and technology enhancements under development at MSFC are aimed at producing mirrors with resolution better than 10 arcsec. The challenge, however, is to preserve this resolution during mounting and assembly. We present here a status report on a mounting and alignment system currently under development at Marshall Space Flight Center designed to meet this challenge.

Grazing incidence metal optics for the Berkeley Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer satellite - A progress report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finley, D.; Malina, R. F.; Bowyer, S.

1985-01-01

The four flight Wolter-Schwarzschild mirrors currently under fabrication for the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite are described. The principal figuring operation of these grazing incidence metal mirrors (gold over nickel on an aluminum substrate) is carried out by diamond turning at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. Turning has been accomplished and optical testing results analyzed for three of the mirrors. As-turned values of 1.7 arc sec full width at half maximum (FWHM) and half energy width (HEW) of 5 arc seconds in the visible have been achieved. These results illustrate the great potential of precision fabrication technology for the production of large grazing incidence optics.

Study on the key alignment technology of the catadioptric optical system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Chong; Fu, Xing; Fu, Xi-hong; Kang, Xiao-peng; Liu, Kai

2017-02-01

Optical system alignment has a great influence on the whole system accuracy. In this paper, the processing of optical system alignment was mainly studied, the processing method of optics on the primary and secondary mirrors, front correction lens group and behind correction lens group with high precision centering lathe and internal focusing telescope. Then using the height indicator complete the system alignment of the primary mirror, secondary mirror, front correction group and behind correction group. Finally, based on the zygo interferometer detect the wavefront information. Using this alignment program for catadioptric optical system, the wavefront aberration of optical system, focal length, modulation transfer function (MTF) and other technical indicators have reached the requirements.

Telescope technology for space-borne submillimeter astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lehman, David H.; Helou, George

1990-01-01

The Precision Segmented Reflector (PSR) project which is developing telescope technology needed for future spaceborne submillimeter astronomy missions is described. Four major technical areas are under development. Lighweight composite mirrors and associated materials, precision structures and segmented reflector figure sensing and control are discussed. The objectives of the PSR project, approaches, and project technology status, are reported.

Measurement-only verifiable blind quantum computing with quantum input verification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morimae, Tomoyuki

2016-10-01

Verifiable blind quantum computing is a secure delegated quantum computing where a client with a limited quantum technology delegates her quantum computing to a server who has a universal quantum computer. The client's privacy is protected (blindness), and the correctness of the computation is verifiable by the client despite her limited quantum technology (verifiability). There are mainly two types of protocols for verifiable blind quantum computing: the protocol where the client has only to generate single-qubit states and the protocol where the client needs only the ability of single-qubit measurements. The latter is called the measurement-only verifiable blind quantum computing. If the input of the client's quantum computing is a quantum state, whose classical efficient description is not known to the client, there was no way for the measurement-only client to verify the correctness of the input. Here we introduce a protocol of measurement-only verifiable blind quantum computing where the correctness of the quantum input is also verifiable.

Dispersion measurement on chirped mirrors at arbitrary incidence angle and polarization state (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovacs, Mate; Somoskoi, Tamas; Seres, Imre; Borzsonyi, Adam; Sipos, Aron; Osvay, Károly

2017-05-01

The optical elements of femtosecond high peak power lasers have to fulfill more and more strict requirements in order to support pulses with high intensity and broad spectrum. In most cases chirped pulse amplification scheme is used to generate high peak power ultrashort laser pulses, where a very precise control of spectral intensity and spectral phase is required in reaching transform-limited temporal shape at the output. In the case of few cycle regime, the conventional bulk glass, prism-, grating- and their combination based compressors are not sufficient anymore, due to undesirable nonlinear effects in their material and proneness to optical damages. The chirped mirrors are also commonly used to complete the compression after a beam transport system just before the target. Moreover, the manufacturing technology requires quality checks right after production and over the lifetime of the mirror as well, since undesired deposition on the surface can lead alteration from the designed value over a large part of the aperture. For the high harmonic generation, polarization gating technology is used to generate single attosecond pulses [1]. In this case the pulse to be compressed has various polarization state falling to the chirped mirrors. For this reason, it is crucial to measure the dispersion of the mirrors for the different polarization states. In this presentation we demonstrate a simple technique to measure the dispersion of arbitrary mirror at angles of incidence from 0 to 55 degree, even for a 12" optics. A large aperture 4" mirror has been scanned over with micrometer accuracy and the dispersion property through the surface has been investigated with a stable interference fringes in that robust geometry. We used Spectrally Resolved Interferometry, which is based on a Michaelson interferometer and a combined visible and infrared spectrometer. Tungsten halogen lamp with 10 mW coupled optical power was used as a white-light source so with the selected spectrometer we could investigate over the 500-1300 nm spectral range. We also measured the mirrors with broadband oscillator pulses, and we found that the dispersion was the same for both light source. Group Delay Dispersion was obtained with a ±2 fs^2 accuracy from the Fourier Transform method of the interference fringes. Using an adjunct mirror, we made possible to change continuously the angle of incidence at the chirped mirror within 3 and 55°. On the input part of the interferometer we placed a wire-grid polarizer, and sensitivity of the chirp mirrors to the polarization state have been measured at different incidence angles. To present the flexibility of the device we scanned two different compressor mirrors with +100 fs^2 and -500 fs^2 at the 800 nm central wavelength. We separately developed an optical arrangement to detect Group Delay shift between s and p polarization reflections of large aperture chirped compressor mirrors and we found that it's below the detection limit, so further investigation will be necessary. 1. M. Ivanov, P. B. Corkum, T. Zuo, and A. Bandrauk, Routes to Control of Intense-Field Atomic Polarizability, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1995

Preliminary design of the cavity-end deformable mirror of the megajoule laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozec, Xavier; Mercier-Ythier, Renaud; Carel, Jean-Louis; Coustal, Pierre; Michelin, Jean L.

1999-07-01

This paper describes a preliminary design to realize a 400 X 400 mm2 active deformable mirror in the framework of the LaserMegajoule French program. The proposed design is based on a force control strategy. Forces are generated by specific designed electromechanical actuators and transmitted to a Zerodur mirror through an annular soft pad. This pad is optimized to filter high frequency ripple generated by the spatial sampling of the efforts at the back of the mirror in order to decrease the needed number of actuators, and thus the cost of the deformable mirror, a specific optimization method has been developed and is applied to determine the best actuator pattern fitted on the wavefront aberrations to be corrected. Analysis, calculations, finite elements models, preliminary test and validations on breadboard models have shown that the proposed design in compliant with the functional and operation requirements. A design description and the main justifications, as the guidelines of mirror integration are given in this paper. Due to the simplicity of the concept and the use of validate and mastered technologies at SFIM Industries and REOSC, the design present a good reliability. Furthermore, a complete and very easy to work maintainability is favored by this deformable mirror definition. Each parts of the system is easily removable and replaceable on the laser line without carrying out a heavy procedure and complex tools.

Directly polished lightweight aluminum mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

ter Horst, Rik; Tromp, Niels; de Haan, Menno; Navarro, Ramon; Venema, Lars; Pragt, Johan

2017-11-01

During the last ten years, Astron has been a major contractor for the design and manufacturing of astronomical instruments for Space- and Earth based observatories, such as VISIR, MIDI, SPIFFI, X-Shooter and MIRI. Driven by the need to reduce the weight of optically ultra-stiff structures, two promising techniques have been developed in the last years: ASTRON Extreme Lightweighting [1][2] for mechanical structures and an improved Polishing Technique for Aluminum Mirrors. Using one single material for both optical components and mechanical structure simplifies the design of a cryogenic instrument significantly, it is very beneficial during instrument test and verification, and makes the instrument insensitive to temperature changes. Aluminum has been the main material used for cryogenic optical instruments, and optical aluminum mirrors are generally diamond turned. The application of a polishable hard top coating like nickel removes excess stray light caused by the groove pattern, but limits the degree of lightweighting of the mirrors due to the bi-metal effect. By directly polishing the aluminum mirror surface, the recent developments at Astron allow for using a non-exotic material for light weighted yet accurate optical mirrors, with a lower surface roughness ( 1nm RMS), higher surface accuracy and reduced light scattering. This paper presents the techniques, obtained results and a global comparison with alternative lightweight mirror solutions. Recent discussions indicate possible extensions of the extreme light weight technology to alternative materials such as Zerodur or Silicon Carbide.

ZERODUR thermo-mechanical modelling and advanced dilatometry for the ELT generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jedamzik, Ralf; Kunisch, Clemens; Westerhoff, Thomas

2016-07-01

Large amounts of low thermal expansion material are required for the upcoming ELT projects. The main mirror is designed using several hundreds of hexagonal 1.4 m sized mirror blanks. The M2 and M3 are monolithic 4 m class mirror blanks. The mirror blank material needs to fulfill tight requirements regarding CTE specification and homogeneity. Additionally the mirror blanks need to be dimensionally stable for more than 30 years. In particular, stress effects due to the changes in the environment shall not entail shape variation of more than 0.5 μm PV within 30 years. In 2010 SCHOTT developed a physically based model to describe the thermal and mechanical long time behavior of ZERODUR. The model enables simulation of the long time behavior of ZERODUR mirror blanks under realistic mechanical and thermal constraints. This presentation shows FEM simulation results on the long time behavior of the ELT M1, M2 and M3 mirror blanks under different loading conditions. Additionally the model results will be compared to an already 15 years lasting long time measurement of a ZERODUR sample at the German federal physical standardization institute (PTB). In recent years SCHOTT pushed the push rod dilatometer measurement technology to its limit. With the new Advanced Dilatometer CTE measurement accuracies of +- 3 ppb/K and reproducibilities of better 1 ppb/K have been achieved. The new Advanced Dilatometer exhibits excellent long time stability.

Johnson Space Center Research and Technology 1997 Annual Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This report highlights key projects and technologies at Johnson Space Center for 1997. The report focuses on the commercial potential of the projects and technologies and is arranged by CorpTech Major Products Groups. Emerging technologies in these major disciplines we summarized: solar system sciences, life sciences, technology transfer, computer sciences, space technology, and human support technology. Them NASA advances have a range of potential commercial applications, from a school internet manager for networks to a liquid metal mirror for optical measurements.

A new simpler way to obtain high fusion power gain in tandem mirrors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fowler, T. K.; Moir, R. W.; Simonen, T. C.

2017-05-01

From the earliest days of fusion research, Richard F. Post and other advocates of magnetic mirror confinement recognized that mirrors favor high ion temperatures where nuclear reaction rates < σ v> begin to peak for all fusion fuels. In this paper we review why high ion temperatures are favored, using Post’s axisymmetric Kinetically Stabilized Tandem Mirror as the example; and we offer a new idea that appears to greatly improve reactor prospects at high ion temperatures. The idea is, first, to take advantage of recent advances in superconducting magnet technology to minimize the size and cost of End Plugs; and secondly, to utilize parallel advances in gyrotrons that would enable intense electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in these high field End Plugs. The yin-yang magnets and thermal barriers that complicated earlier tandem mirror designs are not required. We find that, concerning end losses, intense ECH in symmetric End Plugs could increase the fusion power gain Q, for both DT and Catalyzed DD fuel cycles, to levels competitive with steady-state tokamaks burning DT fuel. Radial losses remain an issue that will ultimately determine reactor viability.

Solid state replacement of rotating mirror cameras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, Alan M.; Bartolick, Joseph M.

2007-01-01

Rotating mirror cameras have been the mainstay of mega-frame per second imaging for decades. There is still no electronic camera that can match a film based rotary mirror camera for the combination of frame count, speed, resolution and dynamic range. The rotary mirror cameras are predominantly used in the range of 0.1 to 100 micro-seconds per frame, for 25 to more than a hundred frames. Electron tube gated cameras dominate the sub microsecond regime but are frame count limited. Video cameras are pushing into the microsecond regime but are resolution limited by the high data rates. An all solid state architecture, dubbed 'In-situ Storage Image Sensor' or 'ISIS', by Prof. Goji Etoh has made its first appearance into the market and its evaluation is discussed. Recent work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has concentrated both on evaluation of the presently available technologies and exploring the capabilities of the ISIS architecture. It is clear though there is presently no single chip camera that can simultaneously match the rotary mirror cameras, the ISIS architecture has the potential to approach their performance.

Optical calibration and test of the VLT Deformable Secondary Mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briguglio, Runa; Xompero, Marco; Riccardi, Armando; Andrighettoni, Mario; Pescoller, Dietrich; Biasi, Roberto; Gallieni, Daniele; Vernet, Elise; Kolb, Johann; Arsenault, Robin; Madec, Pierre-Yves

2013-12-01

The Deformable Secondary Mirror (DSM) for the VLT (ESO) represents the state-of-art of the large-format deformable mirror technology with its 1170 voice-coil actuators and its internal metrology based on actuator co-located capacitive sensors to control the shape of the 1.12m-diameter 2mm-thick convex shell. The present paper reports the results of the optical characterization of the mirror unit with the ASSIST facility located at ESO-Garching and executed in a collaborative effort by ESO, INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri and the DSM manufacturing companies (Microgate s.r.l. and A.D.S. International s.r.l.). The main purposes of the tests are the optical characterization of the shell flattening residuals, the corresponding calibration of flattening commands, the optical calibration of the capacitive sensors and the optical calibration of the mirror influence functions. The results are used for the optical acceptance of the DSM and to allow the next test phase coupling the DSM with the wave-front sensor modules of the new Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF) of ESO.

Alignment and Integration of Lightweight Mirror Segments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, Tyler; Biskach, Michael; Mazzarella, Jim; McClelland, Ryan; Saha, Timo; Zhang, Will; Chan, Kai-Wing

2011-01-01

The optics for the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) require alignment and integration of about fourteen thousand thin mirror segments to achieve the mission goal of 3.0 square meters of effective area at 1.25 keV with an angular resolution of five arc-seconds. These mirror segments are 0.4 mm thick, and 200 to 400 mm in size, which makes it difficult not to impart distortion at the sub-arc-second level. This paper outlines the precise alignment, permanent bonding, and verification testing techniques developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Improvements in alignment include new hardware and automation software. Improvements in bonding include two module new simulators to bond mirrors into, a glass housing for proving single pair bonding, and a Kovar module for bonding multiple pairs of mirrors. Three separate bonding trials were x-ray tested producing results meeting the requirement of sub ten arc-second alignment. This paper will highlight these recent advances in alignment, testing, and bonding techniques and the exciting developments in thin x-ray optic technology development.

Advanced adaptive optics technology development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olivier, Scot S.

2002-02-01

The NSF Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) is supporting research on advanced adaptive optics technologies. CfAO research activities include development and characterization of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirror (DM) technology, as well as development and characterization of high-resolution adaptive optics systems using liquid crystal (LC) spatial light modulator (SLM) technology. This paper presents an overview of the CfAO advanced adaptive optics technology development activities including current status and future plans.

The MINERVA Software Development Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Narkawicz, Anthony; Munoz, Cesar A.; Dutle, Aaron M.

2017-01-01

This paper presents a software development process for safety-critical software components of cyber-physical systems. The process is called MINERVA, which stands for Mirrored Implementation Numerically Evaluated against Rigorously Verified Algorithms. The process relies on formal methods for rigorously validating code against its requirements. The software development process uses: (1) a formal specification language for describing the algorithms and their functional requirements, (2) an interactive theorem prover for formally verifying the correctness of the algorithms, (3) test cases that stress the code, and (4) numerical evaluation on these test cases of both the algorithm specifications and their implementations in code. The MINERVA process is illustrated in this paper with an application to geo-containment algorithms for unmanned aircraft systems. These algorithms ensure that the position of an aircraft never leaves a predetermined polygon region and provide recovery maneuvers when the region is inadvertently exited.

Design for an aberration corrected scanning electron microscope using miniature electron mirrors.

PubMed

Dohi, Hideto; Kruit, Pieter

2018-06-01

Resolution of scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) is determined by aberrations of the objective lens. It is well known that both spherical and chromatic aberrations can be compensated by placing a 90-degree bending magnet and an electron mirror in the beam path before the objective lens. Nevertheless, this approach has not led to wide use of these aberration correctors, partly because aberrations of the bending magnet can be a serious problem. A mirror corrector with two mirrors placed perpendicularly to the optic axis of an SEM and facing each other is proposed. As a result, only small-angle magnetic deflection is necessary to guide the electron beam around the top mirror to the bottom mirror and around the bottom mirror to the objective lens. The deflection angle, in the order of 50 mrad, is sufficiently small to avoid deflection aberrations. In addition, lateral dispersion at the sample plane can be avoided by making the deflection fields symmetric. Such a corrector system is only possible if the incoming beam can pass the top mirror at a distance in the order of millimeters, without being disturbed by the electric fields of electrodes of the mirror. It is proposed that condition can be satisfied with micro-scale electron optical elements fabricated by using MEMS technology. In the proposed corrector system, the micro-mirrors have to provide the exact negative spherical and chromatic aberrations for correcting the aberration of the objective lens. This exact tuning is accomplished by variable magnification between the micro-mirrors and the objective lens using an additional transfer lens. Extensive optical calculations are reported. Aberrations of the micro-mirrors were analyzed by numerical calculation. Dispersion and aberrations of the deflectors were calculated by using an analytical field model. Combination aberrations caused by the off-axis position of dispersive rays in the mirrors and objective lens were also analyzed. It is concluded that the proposed corrector system will be a promising candidate for simple and low-cost aberration correction in low-voltage SEMs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The eROSITA X-ray mirrors: technology and qualification aspects of the production of mandrels, shells and mirror modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcangeli, L.; Borghi, G.; Bräuninger, H.; Citterio, O.; Ferrario, I.; Friedrich, P.; Grisoni, G.; Marioni, F.; Predehl, P.; Rossi, M.; Ritucci, A.; Valsecchi, G.; Vernani, D.

2017-11-01

The name "eROSITA" stands for extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array. The general design of the eROSITA X-ray telescope is derived from that of ABRIXAS. A bundle of 7 mirror modules with short focal lengths make up a compact telescope which is ideal for survey observations. Similar designs had been proposed for the missions DUO and ROSITA but were not realized due to programmatic shortfall. Compared to those, however, the effective area in the soft X-ray band has now much increased by adding 27 additional outer mirror shells to the original 27 ones of each mirror module. The requirement on the on-axis resolution has also been confined, namely to 15 arc seconds HEW. For these reasons the prefix "extended" was added to the original name "ROSITA". The scientific motivation for this extension is founded in the ambitious goal to detect about 100,000 clusters of galaxies which trace the large scale structure of the Universe in space and time. The X-ray telescope of eROSITA will consist of 7 identical and co-aligned mirror modules, each with 54 nested Wolter-1 mirror shells. The mirror shells are glued onto a spider wheel which is screwed to the mirror interface structure making a rigid mechanical unit. The assembly of 7 modules forms a compact hexagonal configuration with 1300 mm diameter (see Fig. 1) and will be attached to the telescope structure which connects to the 7 separate CCD cameras in the focal planes. The co-alignment of the mirror module enables eROSITA to perform also pointed observations. The replication process described in chapter III allows the manufacturing in one single piece and at the same time of both the parabola and hyperbola parts of the Wolter 1 mirror.

Modular Orbital Demonstration of an Evolvable Space Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldauf, Brian

2016-06-01

The key driver for a telescope's sensitivityis directly related to the size of t he mirror area that collects light from the objects being observed.The "Search for Life" via imaging of exoplanets is a mission that requires extremely stable telescopes with apertures in the 10 m to 20 m range. The HDST envisioned for this mission would have an aperture >10 m, which is a larger payload than can be delivered to space using a single launch vehicle. Building and assembling the mirror segments enabling large telescopes will likely require multiple launches and assembly in space. The Optical Telescope Assembly for HDST is a primary mission cost driver. Enabling affordable solutions for this next generation of large aperture space-based telescope are needed.This reports on the concept for the MODEST, which demonstrates on-orbit robotic and/or astronaut assembly of a precision optical telescope in space. It will facilitate demonstration of active correction of phase and mirror shape. MODEST is proposed to be delivered to the ISS using standard Express Logistics Carriers and can mounted to one of a variety of ISS pallets. Post-assembly value includes space, ground, and environmental studies, a testbed for new instruments, and a tool for student's exploration of space. This demonstration program for next generation mirror technology provides significant risk reduction and demonstrates the technology in a six-mirror phased telescope. Key features of the demonstration include the use of an active primary optical surface with wavefront feedback control that allows on-orbit optimization and demonstration of precise surface control to meet optical system wavefront and stability requirements.MODEST will also be used to evaluate advances in lightweight mirror and metering structure materials such as SiC or Ceramic Matrix Composite that have excellent mechanical and thermal properties, e.g. high stiffness, high thermal conductivity, and low thermal expansion. It has been demonstrated that mirrors built from these materials can be rapidly replicated in a highly cost effective manner, making these materials excellent candidates for a low cost, high performance OTA.

Advanced optical technologies for space exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, Natalie

2007-09-01

NASA Langley Research Center is involved in the development of photonic devices and systems for space exploration missions. Photonic technologies of particular interest are those that can be utilized for in-space communication, remote sensing, guidance navigation and control, lunar descent and landing, and rendezvous and docking. NASA Langley has recently established a class-100 clean-room which serves as a Photonics Fabrication Facility for development of prototype optoelectronic devices for aerospace applications. In this paper we discuss our design, fabrication, and testing of novel active pixels, deformable mirrors, and liquid crystal spatial light modulators. Successful implementation of these intelligent optical devices and systems in space, requires careful consideration of temperature and space radiation effects in inorganic and electronic materials. Applications including high bandwidth inertial reference units, lightweight, high precision star trackers for guidance, navigation, and control, deformable mirrors, wavefront sensing, and beam steering technologies are discussed. In addition, experimental results are presented which characterize their performance in space exploration systems

Advanced Optical Technologies for Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Natalie

2007-01-01

NASA Langley Research Center is involved in the development of photonic devices and systems for space exploration missions. Photonic technologies of particular interest are those that can be utilized for in-space communication, remote sensing, guidance navigation and control, lunar descent and landing, and rendezvous and docking. NASA Langley has recently established a class-100 clean-room which serves as a Photonics Fabrication Facility for development of prototype optoelectronic devices for aerospace applications. In this paper we discuss our design, fabrication, and testing of novel active pixels, deformable mirrors, and liquid crystal spatial light modulators. Successful implementation of these intelligent optical devices and systems in space, requires careful consideration of temperature and space radiation effects in inorganic and electronic materials. Applications including high bandwidth inertial reference units, lightweight, high precision star trackers for guidance, navigation, and control, deformable mirrors, wavefront sensing, and beam steering technologies are discussed. In addition, experimental results are presented which characterize their performance in space exploration systems.

Optical interferometer testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blackwood, Gary H.

1991-01-01

Viewgraphs on optical interferometer testbed presented at the MIT Space Research Engineering Center 3rd Annual Symposium are included. Topics covered include: space-based optical interferometer; optical metrology; sensors and actuators; real time control hardware; controlled structures technology (CST) design methodology; identification for MIMO control; FEM/ID correlation for the naked truss; disturbance modeling; disturbance source implementation; structure design: passive damping; low authority control; active isolation of lightweight mirrors on flexible structures; open loop transfer function of mirror; and global/high authority control.

Simultaneous intrinsic and extrinsic calibration of a laser deflecting tilting mirror in the projective voltage space.

PubMed

Schneider, Adrian; Pezold, Simon; Baek, Kyung-Won; Marinov, Dilyan; Cattin, Philippe C

2016-09-01

PURPOSE  : During the past five decades, laser technology emerged and is nowadays part of a great number of scientific and industrial applications. In the medical field, the integration of laser technology is on the rise and has already been widely adopted in contemporary medical applications. However, it is new to use a laser to cut bone and perform general osteotomy surgical tasks with it. In this paper, we describe a method to calibrate a laser deflecting tilting mirror and integrate it into a sophisticated laser osteotome, involving next generation robots and optical tracking. METHODS  : A mathematical model was derived, which describes a controllable deflection mirror by the general projective transformation. This makes the application of well-known camera calibration methods possible. In particular, the direct linear transformation algorithm is applied to calibrate and integrate a laser deflecting tilting mirror into the affine transformation chain of a surgical system. RESULTS  : Experiments were performed on synthetic generated calibration input, and the calibration was tested with real data. The determined target registration errors in a working distance of 150 mm for both simulated input and real data agree at the declared noise level of the applied optical 3D tracking system: The evaluation of the synthetic input showed an error of 0.4 mm, and the error with the real data was 0.3 mm.

Bringing Perfect Vision to the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matijevich, Russ; Johansson, Erik; Johnson, Luke; Cavaco, Jeff; National Solar Observatory

2016-01-01

The world's largest ground-based solar telescope is one step closer to operation with the acceptance of the deformable mirror engineered by AOA Xinetics, a Northrop Grumman Corporation company. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), currently under construction in Haleakala, Hawaii, will offer unprecedented high-resolution images of the sun using the latest adaptive optics technology to provide its distortion-free imaging.Led by the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), the Inouye Solar Telescope will help scientists better understand how magnetic fields affect the physical properties of the Sun, what roles they play in our solar system and how they affect Earth.Ground-based telescopes, whether observing the sun or the night sky must contend with atmospheric turbulence that acts as a flexible lens, constantly reshaping observed images. This turbulence makes research on solar activity difficult and drives the need for the latest adaptive optics technology.To provide DKIST with the distortion-free imaging it requires, AOA Xinetics designed a deformable mirror with 1,600 actuators, four times the normal actuator density. This deformable mirror (DM) is instrumental in removing all of the atmospheric blurriness that would otherwise limit the telescope's performance. The mirror also has an internal thermal management system to handle the intense solar energy coming from DKIST's telescope. This poster provides the history behind this incredible success story.

Optomechanical performance of 3D-printed mirrors with embedded cooling channels and substructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mici, Joni; Rothenberg, Bradley; Brisson, Erik; Wicks, Sunny; Stubbs, David M.

2015-09-01

Advances in 3D printing technology allow for the manufacture of topologically complex parts not otherwise feasible through conventional manufacturing methods. Maturing metal and ceramic 3D printing technologies are becoming more adept at printing complex shapes, enabling topologically intricate mirror substrates. One application area that can benefit from additive manufacturing is reflective optics used in high energy laser (HEL) systems that require materials with a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), high specific stiffness, and (most importantly) high thermal conductivity to effectively dissipate heat from the optical surface. Currently, the limits of conventional manufacturing dictate the topology of HEL optics to be monolithic structures that rely on passive cooling mechanisms and high reflectivity coatings to withstand laser damage. 3D printing enables the manufacture of embedded cooling channels in metallic mirror substrates to allow for (1) active cooling and (2) tunable structures. This paper describes the engineering and analysis of an actively cooled composite optical structure to demonstrate the potential of 3D printing on the improvement of optomechanical systems.

Yes, the James Webb Space Telescope Mirrors 'Can'

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

The powerful primary mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to detect the light from distant galaxies. The manufacturer of those mirrors, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., recently celebrated their successful efforts as mirror segments were packed up in special shipping canisters (cans) for shipping to NASA. The Webb telescope has 21 mirrors, with 18 primary mirror segments working together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror. The mirror segments are made of beryllium, which was selected for its stiffness, light weight and stability at cryogenic temperatures. Bare beryllium is not very reflective of near-infrared light, so each mirror is coated with about 0.12 ounce of gold. Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems is the principal contractor on the telescope and commissioned Ball for the optics system's development, design, manufacturing, integration and testing. The Webb telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, the Webb telescope will provide images of the first galaxies ever formed, and explore planets around distant stars. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. For more information about the James Webb Space Telescope, visit: www.jwst.nasa.gov Credit: Ball Aerospace NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Validation of Observations Obtained with a Liquid Mirror Telescope by Comparison with Sloan Digital Sky Survey Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borra, E. F.

2015-06-01

The results of a search for peculiar astronomical objects using very low resolution spectra obtained with the NASA Orbital Debris Observatory (NODO) 3 m diameter liquid mirror telescope (LMT) are compared with results of spectra obtained with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The main purpose of this comparison is to verify whether observations taken with this novel type of telescope are reliable. This comparison is important because LMTs are an inexpensive novel type of telescope that is very useful for astronomical surveys, particularly surveys in the time domain, and validation of the data taken with an LMT by comparison with data from a classical telescope will validate their reliability. We start from a published data analysis that classified as peculiar only 206 of the 18,000 astronomical objects observed with the NODO LMT. A total of 29 of these 206 objects were found in the SDSS. The reliability of the NODO data can be seen through the results of the detailed analysis that, in practice, incorrectly identified less than 0.3% of the 18,000 spectra as peculiar objects, most likely because they are variable stars. We conclude that the LMT gave reliable observations, comparable to those that would have been obtained with a telescope using a glass mirror.

Software Development for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope's Segment Alignment Maintenance System using LABView

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Drew P.; Ly, William; Howard, Richard T.; Weir, John; Rakoczy, John; Roe, Fred (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The software development for an upgrade to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) was done in LABView. In order to improve the performance of the HET at the McDonald Observatory, a closed-loop system had to be implemented to keep the mirror segments aligned during periods of observation. The control system, called the Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMs), utilized inductive sensors to measure the relative motions of the mirror segments. Software was developed in LABView to tie the sensors, operator interface, and mirror-control motors together. Developing the software in LABView allowed the system to be flexible, understandable, and able to be modified by the end users. Since LABView is built using block diagrams, the software naturally followed the designed control system's block and flow diagrams, and individual software blocks could be easily verified. LABView's many built-in display routines allowed easy visualization of diagnostic and health-monitoring data during testing. Also, since LABView is a multi-platform software package, different programmers could develop the code remotely on various types of machines. LABView s ease of use facilitated rapid prototyping and field testing. There were some unanticipated difficulties in the software development, but the use of LABView as the software "language" for the development of SAMs contributed to the overall success of the project.

Development of Control Models and a Robust Multivariable Controller for Surface Shape Control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Winters, Scott Eric

2003-06-18

Surface shape control techniques are applied to many diverse disciplines, such as adaptive optics, noise control, aircraft flutter control and satellites, with an objective to achieve a desirable shape for an elastic body by the application of distributed control forces. Achieving the desirable shape is influenced by many factors, such as, actuator locations, sensor locations, surface precision and controller performance. Building prototypes to complete design optimizations or controller development can be costly or impractical. This shortfall, puts significant value in developing accurate modeling and control simulation approaches. This thesis focuses on the field of adaptive optics, although these developments havemore » the potential for application in many other fields. A static finite element model is developed and validated using a large aperture interferometer system. This model is then integrated into a control model using a linear least squares algorithm and Shack-Hartmann sensor. The model is successfully exercised showing functionality for various wavefront aberrations. Utilizing a verified model shows significant value in simulating static surface shape control problems with quantifiable uncertainties. A new dynamic model for a seven actuator deformable mirror is presented and its accuracy is proven through experiment. Bond graph techniques are used to generate the state space model of the multi-actuator deformable mirror including piezo-electric actuator dynamics. Using this verified model, a robust multi-input multi-output (MIMO) H ∞ controller is designed and implemented. This controller proved superior performance as compared to a standard proportional-integral controller (PI) design.« less

Experimental evaluation of the ring focus test for X-ray telescopes using AXAF's technology mirror assembly, MSFC CDDF Project No. H20

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zissa, D. E.; Korsch, D.

1986-01-01

A test method particularly suited for X-ray telescopes was evaluated experimentally. The method makes use of a focused ring formed by an annular aperture when using a point source at a finite distance. This would supplement measurements of the best focus image which is blurred when the test source is at a finite distance. The telescope used was the Technology Mirror Assembly of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysis Facility (AXAF) program. Observed ring image defects could be related to the azimuthal location of their sources in the telescope even though in this case the predicted sharp ring was obscured by scattering, finite source size, and residual figure errors.

Toward Large-Area Sub-Arcsecond X-Ray Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

ODell, Stephen L.; Aldcroft, Thomas L.; Allured, Ryan; Atkins, Carolyn; Burrows, David N.; Cao, Jian; Chalifoux, Brandon D.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Cotroneo, Vincenzo; Elsner, Ronald F.;

Toward Large-Area Sub-Arcsecond X-Ray Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Dell, Stephen L.; Aldcroft, Thomas L.; Allured, Ryan; Atkins, Carolyn; Burrows, David N.; Cao, Jian; Chalifoux, Brandon D.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Cotroneo, Vincenzo; Elsner, Ronald F.;

Lightweight structure design for supporting plate of primary mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiao; Wang, Wei; Liu, Bei; Qu, Yan Jun; Li, Xu Peng

2017-10-01

A topological optimization design for the lightweight technology of supporting plate of the primary mirror is presented in this paper. The supporting plate of the primary mirror is topologically optimized under the condition of determined shape, loads and environment. And the optimal structure is obtained. The diameter of the primary mirror in this paper is 450mm, and the material is SiC1 . It is better to select SiC/Al as the supporting material. Six points of axial relative displacement can be used as constraints in optimization2 . Establishing the supporting plate model and setting up the model parameters. After analyzing the force of the main mirror on the supporting plate, the model is applied with force and constraints. Modal analysis and static analysis of supporting plates are calculated. The continuum structure topological optimization mathematical model is created with the variable-density method. The maximum deformation of the surface of supporting plate under the gravity of the mirror and the first model frequency are assigned to response variable, and the entire volume of supporting structure is converted to object function. The structures before and after optimization are analyzed using the finite element method. Results show that the optimized fundamental frequency increases 29.85Hz and has a less displacement compared with the traditional structure.

Manufacture, alignment and measurement for a reflective triplet optics in imaging spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Liyin; He, Zhiping; Wang, Yueming; Lv, Gang

2016-09-01

Reflective triplet (RT) optics is an optical form with decenters and tilts of all the three mirrors. It can be used in spectrometer as collimator and reimager to get fine optical and spectral performances. To alleviate thermal and assembly stress deformation, opto-mechanical integrated design suggests that as with all the machine elements and the mainframe, the mirrors substrates are aluminum. All the mirrors are manufactured by single-point diamond turning technology and measured by interferometer or profilometer. Because of retro-reflection by grating or prism and reimaging away from the object field, solo three mirrors optical path of RT has some aberrations. So its alignment and measurement needs an aberration corrected measuring optical system with auxiliary plane and sphere mirrors and in which the RT optics used in four pass. Manufacture, alignment and measurement for a RT optics used in long wave infrared grating spectrometer is discussed here. We realized the manufacture, alignment and test for the RT optics of a longwave infrared spectromter by CMM and interferometer. Wavefront error test by interferometer and surface profiles measured by profilometer indicate that performances of the manufactured mirrors exceed the requirements. Interferogram of the assembled RT optics shows that wavefront error rms is less than 0.0493λ@10.6μm vs design result 0.0207λ.

Lightweight ZERODUR: a cost-effective thermally stable approach to both large and small spaceborne telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hull, Tony; Westerhoff, Thomas

2014-06-01

ZERODUR®, known as the "gold standard" material for systems which require dimensional stability in the presence of gradients and transients, is now available lightweighted to the 85% to 90% level for use in high performance spaceborne telescopes and sensor systems. This establishes a design option that may have cost, testability, performance and risk advantages for an entire sensor system payload. The technical approach to making these primary mirrors is the same, whether the aperture is <0.3m to <4.0m. Since each mirror blank is made from a single monolithic billet of near zero-expansion, isotropic and homogeneous ZERODUR® material, the resulting mirror is very stable over a wide range of scenes and orbits, with minimal to no need for ancillary thermal stability and wavefront sensing and control systems. Telescopes using ZERODUR® and low expansion metering structures can accommodate thermal design challenges of both non-thermal (UV, VIS, LLLTV, NIR, SWIR and mm) and thermal (MWIR, LWIR) imaging systems, and deliver optimal performance. This lightweight mirror technology is discussed, with actual examples by SCHOTT of 0.3m and 1.2m mirrors presented. Lightweight ZERODUR® mirrors offer superior optical performance, attractive cost and aggressive lead times, and are available to present and future spaceborne sensor trades.

Design and Fabrication of a Large-Stroke Deformable Mirror Using a Gear-Shape Ionic-Conductive Polymer Metal Composite

PubMed Central

Wei, Hsiang-Chun; Su, Guo-Dung John

2012-01-01

Conventional camera modules with image sensors manipulate the focus or zoom by moving lenses. Although motors, such as voice-coil motors, can move the lens sets precisely, large volume, high power consumption, and long moving time are critical issues for motor-type camera modules. A deformable mirror (DM) provides a good opportunity to improve these issues. The DM is a reflective type optical component which can alter the optical power to focus the lights on the two dimensional optical image sensors. It can make the camera system operate rapidly. Ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) is a promising electro-actuated polymer material that can be used in micromachining devices because of its large deformation with low actuation voltage. We developed a convenient simulation model based on Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio. We divided an ion exchange polymer, also known as Nafion®, into two virtual layers in the simulation model: one was expansive and the other was contractive, caused by opposite constant surface forces on each surface of the elements. Therefore, the deformation for different IPMC shapes can be described more easily. A standard experiment of voltage vs. tip displacement was used to verify the proposed modeling. Finally, a gear shaped IPMC actuator was designed and tested. Optical power of the IPMC deformable mirror is experimentally demonstrated to be 17 diopters with two volts. The needed voltage was about two orders lower than conventional silicon deformable mirrors and about one order lower than the liquid lens. PMID:23112648

Districts Deploy Digital Tools to Engage Parents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleming, Nora

2012-01-01

Digital technology is providing a growing variety of methods for school leaders to connect with parents anywhere, anytime--a tactic mirroring how technology is used to engage students. Through Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, and text messages sent in multiple languages, school staff members are giving parents instant updates, news, and information…

Mirrors of Minds: Patterns of Experience in Educational Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pea, Roy D., Ed.; Sheingold, Karen, Ed.

This publication presents selected papers that address certain questions that are being investigated by Bank Street College's Center for Children and Technology (CCT). CCT's researchers are working to help define new research inquiries and to document students' and teachers' uses and understandings of educational technologies. Included in this…