Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC), a provider of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) based, deformable mirror (DM) products and adaptive optics (AO) systems, announced today that its Multi-DM is being used in Robo-AO, an autonomous, robotic, astronomical, laser AO and science instrument that is currently deployed at the 1.5-metre telescope at Palomar, California (US). Robo-AO is a collaboration between Caltech Optical Observatories and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Robo-AO brings AO technology, which is normally limited to much larger telescopes with larger budgets, to small and mid-size telescopes increasing their imaging power. Because it automates the processes, efficiency is increased, less effort is required and researchers are able to carry out many more observations per night than if they were doing it manually. In addition, because the system is robotic, it can rapidly respond to new discoveries, such as supernovae, or repeatedly observe targets over time providing the ability to monitor weather on other planets in the solar system.
Robo-AO with the Multi-DM is shown without its typical black cover. It is attached to the bottom of the telescope.
BMC’s Multi-DM is used by Robo-AO to improve the quality of the telescope’s images by correcting for the degrading aberrations caused by atmospheric turbulence.
The Multi-DM offers sophisticated aberration compensation in an easy-to-use package. With 140 precisely controlled elements and low inter-actuator coupling, this system is suitable for a broad range of applications, such as astronomy, microscopy, retinal imaging and laser-beam shaping. The high-speed, high-precision driver electronics are controlled via a universal serial bus (USB) interface. The DM is available in both continuous and segmented surfaces for AO or spatial light-modulator applications. The DMs are capable of up to a 5.5-micrometre (µm) stroke and a 20-kilohertz (kHz) frame rate. They have sub-nanometre (nm) step size and zero hysteresis.
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