Large scale nanolaminate deformable mirror

This work concerns the development of a technology that uses Nanolaminate foils to form light-weight, deformable mirrors that are scalable over a wide range of mirror sizes. While MEMS-based deformable mirrors and spatial light modulators have considerably reduced the cost and increased the capabilities of adaptive optic systems, there has not been a way to utilize the advantages of lithography and batch-fabrication to produce large-scale deformable mirrors. This technology is made scalable by using fabrication techniques and lithography that are not limited to the sizes of conventional MEMS devices. Like many MEMS devices, these mirrors use parallel plate electrostatic actuators. This technology replicates that functionality by suspending a horizontal piece of nanolaminate foil over an electrode by electroplated nickel posts. This actuator is attached, with another post, to another nanolaminate foil that acts as the mirror surface. Most MEMS devices are produced with integrated circuit lithography techniques that are capable of very small line widths, but are not scalable to large sizes. This technology is very tolerant of lithography errors and can use coarser, printed circuit board lithography techniques that can be scaled to very large sizes. These mirrors use small, lithographically defined actuators and thin nanolaminate foils allowing them to produce deformations over a large area while minimizing weight. This paper will describe a staged program to develop this technology. First-principles models were developed to determine design parameters. Three stages of fabrication will be described starting with a 3x3 device using conventional metal foils and epoxy to a 10-across all-metal device with nanolaminate mirror surfaces.