The
Live-Mirror Consortium is a small networking of identified eminent interdisciplinary scientists concerned with the impact through R&D excellence and innovation.
We propose to develop a new and interdisciplinary technology for creating extremely lightweight diffraction-limited meta-material-based optical systems with exceptional optical quality spectacularly lower cost and production time.
The novelty is to replace classical rigid and heavy optical mirrors with “live” and light dynamic optoelectronic systems consisting of a thin optical fire-polished glass sheet actively “live” supported by many-degree-of-freedom force-actuators/sensors integrated and miniaturized via additive manufacturing and 3D printing.
Novel Technologies
Develop a “deterministic non-contact glass slumping”(DNCGS) technique that generates optically accurate aspheric shapes from commercial fire-polished “float” glass with extremely smooth optical surface which is never abrasively polished or surface-contacted. The novelty is to replace classical (very slow and consequently expensive) abrasive glass polishing (shaping) with inexpensive non-contact deterministic slumping of fire-polished thin glass. This yields an aspheric shape that is within a few microns of the desired precisely-shaped optical surface.
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Such hybrid structures will require a fast and efficient optical calibration technique. Our “3D-printed” force actuator and sensor system works in combination with an optical metrology and Kirchhoff-Love solver control algorithm, integrated into a highly-parallel information network system allowing dynamic maintenance of a desired large-scale single mirror shape (e.g., on- and/or off-axis parabola for example).
Achieve active shape control with many- degree-of-freedom force actuators and sensors created by an additive 3D-printing-based technology that relies on an optimized electro-active polymer (EAP) systems in a sandwich of DNCGS glass surfaces. This creates a novel hybrid meta-material with superior stiffness-to-density ratio properties.
Technology
Breakthroughs Targeted
X7 significantly lower areal mass density of optical mirrors;
X10 significantly improved surface roughness and lower scattered light;
X15 significantly shorten production time and lower cost.
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Preliminary Results
Hand-Made Multi Layers Force-Actuators based on Fluorinated Doped Terpolymer
P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) 8% DINP.
Hybrid dynamic structures for optical quality surfaces shape control: Live-Mirror, in Proc. of SPIE Vol. 10926 109261X-1, Quantum Sensing and Nano Electronics and Photonics XVI; SPIE OPTO, 2019.
Live-mirror shape correction technology operated through modified electroactive polymer actuators, in Proc. SPIE 10966, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXI, 109662U (13 March 2019); SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation, 2019
Surface Correction Control Based on Plasticized Multilayer P(VDF‐TrFE‐CFE) Actuator - Live Mirror in Advanced Optical Materials, Volume 7, Issue 13, First published: 02 May 2019
Advanced Plasticized Electroactive Polymers Actuators for Active Optical Applications - Live Mirror, in Advanced Engineering Materials Volume 22, Issue 5First published: 13 February 2020.
FULLY 3D-PRINTED
FORCE-ACTUATOR SYSTEMS
Four force-actuators setup based on a doped terpolymer P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) 8wt% DINP was fully 3D printed on the back of optical surface (glass plate 2mm x 110mm in diameter). Here are the preliminary results.
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