Fast Steering Mirror

To address the Navy need for a compact and highly accurate scanner for the new airborne LADARs, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Fast Steering Mirror (FSM). This proposed device is based on POC’s silicon processing and micromachining technologies utilized for the fabrication of a lightweight composite mirror and our compact interferometric position sensor for the precise control of mirror angular position. The innovations in mirror structure and feedback control sensors allow achieving the required switching speed and positioning accuracy within a specified form factor. As a result, this scanner offers positioning accuracy of about a few microradians and a switching time less than 10 ms, while providing laser beam deflection around both X and Y axes and occupying a small volume. The combination of high positioning accuracy, high switching speed, and a small footprint directly addresses the requirements for its utilization in new Navy airborne LADARs. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of the Fast Steering Mirror by the design, fabrication, and demonstration of the system prototype. In Phase II, POC plans to advance the prototype design and rigorously test it in an operational environment.