Phillips Laboratory, Directorate of Contracting, 2251 Maxwell Avenue SE, Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-5773

A -- HIGH RELIABILITY DEFORMABLE MIRROR SOL PRDA 98-D01 POC Barbara Steinbock, Contracting Officer (505)846-2246; Lt Jeff Barchers, AFRL/DES, (505)846-5671 HIGH RELIABILITY DEFORMABLE MIRROR. PRDA NO. 98-D01 AMENDMENT THREE. THIS AMENDMENT REPLACES THE BACKGROUND AND PRIMARY GOALS PARAGRAPH. THIS AMENDMENT SUPERCEDES PREVIOUS AMENDMENTS Contractual POC: Barbara Steinbock, Contracting Officer (505)846-2246; AFRL/PKDB; 2251 Maxwell Ave SE, Kirtland AFB NM 87117-5773. Technical POC: Lt Jeff Barchers, AFRL/DES, (505) 846-5671.The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is seeking proposals for design and fabrication of a High Reliability Deformable Mirror. BACKGROUND AND PRIMARY GOALS: The goal of this effort is to design and build 1000-actuator class deformable mirrors with close actuator spacing, high reliability and low cost. Innovative approaches to accomplish these goals are strongly encouraged. The deformable mirror will be used in adaptive optics systems designed to correct phase distortions created by atmospheric turbulence. The deformable mirror will be used in a closed loop servo having a control bandwidth of 500 Hz (at -3 dB error rejection). The mirror must have inter-actuator spacing of less than 7.0 millimeters (mm) with individual actuator stroke greater than plus/minus 2.0 micrometers and adjacent actuators restricted so that differential stroke does not exceed 2.0 micrometers. SPECIFICATIONS: The DM must meet or exceed current industry standards including but not limited to the following: have a minimum of 941 active actuators in a square array of 35 actuators on a side with corner actuators eliminated to accommodate a circular aperture. The location of the actuator centers relative to a best-fit square grid, must be less than 1/50 of an actuator spacing distance. The mirror surface over the active area with no excitation on the actuators shall be flat to better than lambda-over-five, peak-to-peak (lambda = 0.5 micrometers). Actuator to actuator uniformity must be achieved such that the mirror surface error, using a maximum offset of 5% of full stroke on individual actuators, is less than 1/30 wave rms and 1/16 wave peak-to-peak at mid-stroke operation. At full stroke operation, the mirror surface error must be less than 1/10 wave rms (1 wave = 0.5 micrometers). Actuator hysteresis shall not exceed 3% on any actuator. Full-scale operating voltage shall be chosen to ensure that the actuator's strength will not be compromised due to excessive stress in the individual actuator layers. The actuator influence function describes the shape of the mirror surface in response to the displacement of an actuator. The goal is that the displacement of the mirror surface at any actuator location is less than 10% of the displacement at the driven actuator location, under both static and dynamic conditions. Actuator response shall be independent of temperature to plus/minus 0.3% over the temperature range 20 plus/minus 5 degrees C. Mirror response, defined as the ratio of surface displacement to actuator drive voltage, is required to be flat (plus/minus 0.5 dB) with a maximum phase shift of 5 degrees out to 2 kHz for small signal operation and out to 500 Hz for full stroke operation. It is intended that the mirror will be operated with drive circuitry designed and provided by the vendor. This circuitry shall drive all actuators and shall have protective circuitry to prevent excess current to actuators. This drive circuit shall be digitally controlled. Frame rate shall meet or exceed 10 kHz. Latency, as measured from the last command input to the last voltage output, must be less than 10 microsec. As an additional goal, the design should be compatible with the application of a multi-layer dielectric coating. When used in an adaptive optical system, the DM must be aligned so that the actuators are coincident with the sub-apertures of the phase sensor. To facilitate this alignment, provisions shall be made for the accurate registration of an alignment fixture. This fixture could be either a crosshair centered on the aperture or a mask defining each actuator location. Good commercial practices shall be used throughout. The DM shall be operable without degradation of performanceunder the following conditions: -- at altitudes from sea level to 10,000 feet -- storage over the temperature range -10 to 50 degrees C -- at any attitude in the gravitational field. Offers are not limited in technical approach, though the proposed design should consider the goals of the effort and specifications listed above. Projected total funds are currently unavailable, though projected funding is $2.5 million for the total project. (0153)

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