Ferrofluid Based Deformable Mirrors - a New Approach to Adaptive Optics Using Liquid Mirrors
Abstract
The trend towards ever larger telescopes and more advanced adaptive optics systems is driving the need for deformable mirrors with a large number of low cost actuators. Liquid mirrors have long been recognized a potential low cost alternative to conventional solid mirrors. By using a water or oil based ferrofluid we are able to benefit from a stronger magnetic response than is found in magnetic liquid metal amalgams and avoid the difficulty of passing a uniform current through a liquid. Depositing a thin silver colloid known as a metal liquid-like film (MELLF) on the ferrofluid surface solves the problem of low reflectivity of pure ferrofluids. This combination provides a liquid optical surface that can be precisely shaped in a magnetic field. We present experimental results obtained with a prototype deformable liquid mirror based on this combination.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0212189,
title = {Ferrofluid Based Deformable Mirrors - a New Approach to Adaptive Optics Using Liquid Mirrors},
author = {P. Laird and R. Bergamasco and V. Berube and E. F. Borra and A. Ritcey and M. Rioux and N. Robitaille and S. Thibault and L. Vieira da Silva and H. Yockell-Lelievre},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0212189},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
9 pages. To appear in SPIE meeting in Hawaii August 2002. Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation