High Gain Bandwidth Deformable Mirror for High Energy Lasers

Compensation of thermal blooming and high scintillation affects requires simultaneous large amplitude and large bandwidth operation or high gain bandwidth. Present deformable mirror technology, provides 3 to 4 microns stroke with a full amplitude bandwidthapproaching 500-Hz. It has been a design criteria that as the bandwidth increased, the amplitude decreased specific to a power spectral density profile set forth for the application. Recent test results have shown that present mirrors are limited by theability of the actuators to withstand the high peak current loads required for the high gain bandwidth operational mode. Recent test results have also shown that present deformable mirror driver electronics do not source enough peak current to drive theactuator capacitive load to stable, high gain bandwidth products. The high gain and bandwidth deformable mirror will allow many compact laser propagation systems to overcome significantly more turbulent propagation paths than is currently possible. Lasercommunications, high energy beam weapon systems, tactical targeting systems and others would directly benefit from the development of the proposed Deformable mirror system.