Thermo Electron Technologies Corp.

Raymond A LaBelle

William G Hulburd

MacDonald Bruce G

A low cost segmented mirror for making wavefront corrections. The segmented mirror is comprised of a large number of closely spaced mirror element assemblies. Each assembly is comprised of an essentially flat mirror surface backed by a substrate and a tubular shaped piezoelectric driver divided axially into at least three parts each part having its own independent voltage source. The independent voltages sources are variable over a voltage range including zero volts. Each driver is attached at one of its ends to a base support. During fabrication, the segmented mirrors are held in place on an essentially flat vacuum chuck while the other ends of the drivers are attached to the mirror substrates with an epoxy. The result is an essentially flat segmented mirror surface when the independent voltage sources are at zero volts. Wavefront corrections are produced by varying the voltage to each individual part of each piezoelectric driver so as to adjust each of the segmented mirror surfaces in tilt, tip, and piston.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Raymond A LaBelle