NASA SBIR 00-1 SOLICITATION

FORM 9B - PROJECT SUMMARY

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 18.03-8324 (Chron: 001677 )
PROJECT TITLE
Ferroelectric MEMS Integrated Deformable Mirror

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The cryogenic and ambient telescopes proposed by NASA have one thing in common; imaging extra-solar planets demand large deformable mirrors (>10,000 channels) to achieve the high-resolution imaging. The system does not need high-speed and large strokes but will require a large channel count in the smallest possible package. The past few years have seen Xinetics increase the channel count while reducing the overall size of deformable mirrors. Progress made along these lines demonstrated the feasibility of 1-mm spaced actuators. Actuator spacing an order of magnitude smaller would further enhance resolution and provide a smaller and lighter package. MEMS technology has demonstrated spacing on the order of 100-mm but with certain very significant limitations with regard to polishing and coating. The high-resolution mirrors NASA needs must have superb surface figure and finish otherwise they will be of no use. This makes MEMS impractical for adaptive-optics systems. Deformable mirror development at Xinetics has demonstrated the NASA coating and surface requirements but not the small spacing. This proposal will investigate the feasibility of 100-mm spaced ferroelectric ceramic deformable mirrors. The adaptation of ion etching techniques such as those used to make diffractive optics can result in these small spaced mirrors.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Extremely dense deformable mirrors would have a wide range of applications. Besides the obvious application for small, lightweight optical components for spacecraft, there is also need in the medical industry for adaptive-optics components of this type for the opthalmic industry. Litography applications would also be greatly enhanced by allowing very fine adjustment of optical components. These would permit even smaller linewidths than are now possible in the VLSI fabrication industry.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Roger Bagwell
Xinetics Inc.
37 MacArthur Ave
Devens , MA 01432 - 4443

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Xinetics Inc
37 MacArthur Ave
Devens , MA 01432 - 4443