Future space and ground telescopes will have apertures that are increasingly larger in size. The primary mirrors for these telescopes will be so large that they cannot be fabricated, transported, and/or launched as a single entity. One solution is to build a large mirror out of smaller segments. The biggest challenge in fabricating segmented mirrors is matching the individual pieces so they form a single, continuous surface. This requirement means that the radii of curvature must all match. We present a technique for matching the relative radii of curvature for segmented mirrors, and we include an error analysis of this method.

Date Published: 24 October 2000
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 4093, Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Systems Engineering, (24 October 2000); doi: 10.1117/12.405241

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4093:
Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Systems Engineering
Robert E. Fischer; Robert E. Fischer; R. Barry Johnson; Warren J. Smith; Warren J. Smith; William H. Swantner, Editor(s)