Active Optics in Astonomy - Modeling of freeform deformable substrates - FIREBall and MESSIER

TL;DR

This paper discusses innovative active optics techniques for creating freeform deformable mirrors in astronomical instruments, enabling high-precision imaging for applications like exoplanet detection and galaxy structure analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for generating highly deformable freeform mirrors using minimal actuators and elastic stress, demonstrated through two prototype instruments: FIREBall and MESSIER.

Findings

Successful fabrication of freeform mirrors via stress figuring and elastic relaxation.

Integration of optical and elasticity simulations for precise deformable substrate design.

Potential for improved imaging quality in astronomical telescopes using minimal-actuator deformable mirrors.

Abstract

Active optics techniques on large telescopes and astronomical instrumentations provide high imaging quality. For ground-based astronomy, the co-addition of adaptive optics again increases angular resolution up to provide diffraction-limited imaging at least in the infrared. Active and adaptive optics marked milestone progress in the detection of exoplanets, super-massive black holes, and large scale structure of galaxies. This paper is dedicated to highly deformable active optics that can generate non-axisymmetric aspheric surfaces-or freeform surfaces-by use of a minimum number of actuators: a single uniform load acts over the surface of a vase-form substrate whilst under reaction to its elliptical perimeter ring. Two such instruments are presented, 1) the FIREBall telescope and MOS where the freeform reflective diffraction grating is generated by replication of a deformable master grating, and 2) the MESSIER wide-field low-central-obstruction TMA telescope proposal where the freeform mirror is generated by stress figuring and elastic relaxation. Freeform surfaces were obtained by plane super-polishing. Preliminary analysis required use of the optics theory of 3rd-order aberrations and elasticity theory of thin elliptical plates. Final cross-optimizations were carried out with Zemax raytracing code and Nastran FEA elasticity code in order to determine geometry of the deformable substrates.