Primary Tweeters: Segmented Micro-Mirrors for Picometer-Scale Wavefront Compensation in Space-Based Observatories

The proposed innovation is a segmented, micromachined deformable mirror (DM) that can compensate tip-tilt-piston (TTP) positioning and stability errors of a segmented space-based primary mirror. This effort responds directly to the NASA FY2018 SBIR/STTR General Solicitation, Focus Area 10: Advanced Telescope Technologies, Subtopic S2.01: Proximity Glare Suppression for Astronomical Direct Detection. This subtopic focuses on new technological developments that are needed for exoplanet direct imaging, and specifically identifies wavefront measurement and control technologies as a key need. The core subject of this proposal is to develop a technology that is identified as critical in this subtopic: small-stroke, high-precision deformable mirrors and associated driving electronics. The solicitation specifically calls for a “Deformable, calibrated, collimating source to simulate the telescope front end of a coronagraph undergoing thermal deformations.” The proposed DM would have complementary uses for both simulating the front end of a coronagraph (as a surrogate for its primary) and precisely compensating wavefront errors in the front end of an actual coronagraph. High-precision deformable mirrors have applications relative to multiple NASA needs. Commercialization opportunities in astronomy and space science include both space telescopes such as the Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) and Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) telescopes. The DM architectures to be developed in this project also have commercial applications in non-government markets, including space surveillance and biological microscopy. In the microscopy market especially, the TTP DM has become a commercial product used in two photon nonlinear microscopes through the pioneering efforts of Na Ji at Howard Hughes Medical Insitute’s Janelia Research Campus.