The Directed Energy Directorate is developing technologies for large space-based optical membrane telescopes. The goal is to develop technologies that will enable 20-meter or greater diameter telescopes, with areal densities of less than 1 kilogram per square meter. The challenge of building these precise structures is reduced by employing a diffractive wavefront controller, which will significantly relax the structural tolerances normally associated with conventional optical systems. A significant portion of the corrector's range and bandwidth can be consumed by structural disturbances. This survey will describe the relationship between the structural dynamics of a highly compliant, 11 inch diameter, planar optical aperture and the diffractive wavefront controller's ability to compensate for the resulting wavefront error. This overview should give the optical physicist and the opto-mechanical engineer a starting point to communicate system design and research needs.

Date Published: 6 November 2002
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 4825, High-Resolution Wavefront Control: Methods, Devices, and Applications IV, (6 November 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.453502

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4825:
High-Resolution Wavefront Control: Methods, Devices, and Applications IV
John D. Gonglewski; Mikhail A. Vorontsov; Mark T. Gruneisen; Sergio R. Restaino; Robert K. Tyson, Editor(s)