Scaling laws for light-weight optical systems are examined. A cubic relationship between mirror diameter and weight has been suggested and used by many designers of optical systems as the best description for all light-weight mirrors. A survey of existing light- weight systems in the open literature has been made to clarify this issue. Fifty existing optical systems were surveyed with all varieties of light-weight mirrors including glass and beryllium structured mirrors, contoured mirrors, and very thin solid mirrors. These mirrors were then categorized and weight to diameter ratio was plotted to find a best fit curve for each case. A best fitting curve program tests nineteen different equations and ranks a "goodness of fit" for each of these equations. The resulting relationship found for each light-weight mirror category helps to quantify light-weight optical systems and methods of fabrication and provides comparisons between mirror types.

Date Published: 1 November 1990
PDF: 20 pages
Proc. SPIE 1340, Cryogenic Optical Systems and Instruments IV, (1 November 1990); doi: 10.1117/12.23035

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1340:
Cryogenic Optical Systems and Instruments IV
Ramsey K. Melugin; Gerald R. Pruitt, Editor(s)