Closed-loop performance of an actuated deformable carbon fiber reinforced polymer mirror

The Naval Research Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories have been actively researching the use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer material as optical elements in many optical systems. Active optical elements can be used to build an optical system capable of changing is optical zoom. We have developed a two-element optical system that uses a large diameter, thin-shelled carbon fiber reinforced polymer mirror, actuated with micro-positioning motors, and a high actuator density micro-electro-mechanical deformable mirror. Combined with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, we have optimized this actuated carbon fiber reinforced polymer deformable mirror's surface for use with a forthcoming reflective adaptive optical zoom system. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of the carbon fiber reinforced polymer deformable mirror's surface quality and the development of the actuation of it.