Active vase mirrors warped by Zernike polynomials for Correcting off-axis aberrations of fixed primary mirrors. Part 2 - Optical testing and performance evaluation

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of Zernike polynomial-based active mirrors to correct off-axis aberrations in fixed primary mirrors, focusing on optical testing and performance evaluation for large-angle liquid mirror observations.

Contribution

It introduces a method for aspherization of active mirrors using Zernike polynomials to correct specific optical aberrations in large-angle liquid mirror systems.

Findings

Successful wavefront correction for third and fifth-order aberrations.

Effective use of pressure-loaded stainless steel mirror for aberration compensation.

Potential application in large-angle liquid mirror telescopes.

Abstract

We investigate the aspherization of an active mirror for correcting third and fifth-order aberrations. We use a stainless steel AISI 420 mirror with a controlled pressure load, two series of 12-punctual radial positions of force application distributed symmetrically in two concentric rings around the mirror. We obtain the wavefronts for Cv1, Sph3, Coma3, Astm3, Comatri, Astm5 aswell as those of the added wavefronts. Although this active prototype mirror has general uses, our goal is to compensate the aberrations of a liquid mirror observing at large angles from the zenith.