SBIR Phase I: Control System Development for Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Segmented Deformable Mirrors

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop control techniques for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based segmented deformable mirrors (DMs) used in adaptive optical (AO) systems. These AO systems correct for optical aberrations, which limit the performance of virtually all conventional optical instruments. MEMS DMs are physically small, have high stoke and fidelity, and promise low cost, thus making them highly attractive in biological imaging. Control of these mirrors presents a new set of challenges, which have not yet been addressed. AO systems have been shown to yield dramatic improvement in the performance of imaging systems and have demonstrated cellular level imaging in vivo. The enhancements in image contrast and effective resolution by using AO can be very high and thus are pivotal enabling cellular imaging leading to potentially earlier disease detection, more effective pharmacological studies, and advances in basic biology.