Aluminum alloys reinforced with ceramic particles produce a low density metal matrix composite (MMC) with enhanced mechanical and physical properties including relatively high modulus and vibration loss. This paper will outline the capability through Powder Metallurgy processing techniques made by mechanical alloying (MA). MA enables production of MMC’s with micron to submicron mean particulate reinforcement size which increases mechanical properties in comparison to larger reinforcement particle size. Smaller reinforcement particles also result in a material that fits well within established value streams enabling conventional post consolidation metalworking and machining methods. The microstructure and properties of MMC’s mechanical alloyed with base aluminum alloys 6061B and 2124A will be presented.

The advancement of far-ultraviolet (FUV) coatings is essential to meet the specified throughput requirements of the Large UV/Optical/IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor Observatory which will cover wavelengths down to the 100 nm range. The biggest constraint in the optical thin film coating design is attenuation in the Lyman-Alpha Ultraviolet range of 100-130 nm in which conventionally deposited thin film materials used in this spectral region (e.g., aluminum [Al] protected with Magnesium fluoride [MgF₂]) often have high absorption and scatter properties degrading the throughput in an optical system. We investigate the use of optimally deposited aluminum and aluminum tri-fluoride (AlF₃) materials for reflecting and solar blind band-pass filter coatings for use in the FUV. Optical characterization of the deposited designs has been performed using UV spectrometry. The optical thin film design and optimal deposition conditions to produce superior reflectance and transmittance using Al and AlF₃ are presented.

Nowadays the elastomer known as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, Sylgard 184), due to its physical properties, low cost and easy handle, have become a frequently used material for the elaboration of optical components such as: variable focal length liquid lenses, optical waveguides, solid elastic lenses, etc. In recent years, we have been working in the characterization of this material for applications in visual sciences; in this work, we describe the elaboration of PDMSmade samples, also, we present physical and optical properties of the samples by varying its synthesis parameters such as base: curing agent ratio, and both, curing time and temperature. In the case of mechanical properties, tensile and compression tests were carried out through a universal testing machine to obtain the respective stress-strain curves, and to obtain information regarding its optical properties, UV-vis spectroscopy is applied to the samples to obtain transmittance and absorbance curves. Index of refraction variation was obtained through an Abbe refractometer. Results from the characterization will determine the proper synthesis parameters for the elaboration of tunable refractive surfaces for potential applications in robotics.

Mixing processes of two liquids were investigated by visualizing the mixing when they were simultaneously injected in a micro-mixer with lithographically fabricated Y-shape flow paths, and the mixing phenomena was analyzed in detail. To visualize the mixing, flows were observed by an optical microscope, and a clearly detectable chemical reaction was utilized. As the two liquids, a transparent aqueous solution of a strong alkali and a phenolphthalein ethanol solution were used. When they were simultaneously injected in Y-shape flow paths of a micro-mixer, they flowed at first in parallel along the joined path as laminar flows. This is because the Reynolds’ number became very small caused by the narrow flow-path widths of 50-100 μm. However, because two liquids were always contacted at the boundary, they were gradually mixed by diffusion, and the color of the mixed parts changed to vivid red. For this reason, it was able to measure the diffusion distance from the flow path center. Because the flow speeds were much faster than the diffusion speeds, the area colored in red did not depend on the time but depended on the distance from the joint point. It was known that the distance from the joint point corresponded to the time for mixing the liquids by the diffusion. It was clarified that the diffusion distance x was proportional to the square root of the diffusion time t or the distance from the joint point. The calculated diffusion coefficient D was (0.87-1.00)×10^-9 m²/s.

Packaging of optical devices often requires the need for creating strong bonds between metal and silica. The most convenient and cost-effective approach would be to directly solder to both silica and metal without requiring premetallization of the silica. Soldering to oxides and oxidized surfaces has been accomplished with various solders containing metals with strong affinity for oxygen. In this work we investigate solders based upon a tin-bismuth eutectic with potential activating additives of cerium, gallium, and titanium. Each of these metals are energetically capable of competing for the oxygen in silica and are therefore capable of reducing or forming mixed oxides with silica under appropriate conditions. The bond between such an “activated” solder and high purity fused silica (HPFS) has been characterized by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Two variations of solder produced by SBond Technologies, S-Bond 140 and S-Bond 140 M1, were bonded to silica using a fluxless ultrasonic technique. TOFSIMS was then used to characterize the bond interface by measuring the distribution of elements as a function of depth through the interface. The results show that the presumed activating elements concentrate at the interface and that their oxides form the interfacial layer between the HPFS and the bulk solder. The efficacy of these additives was established by demonstrating that the block shear strength of the bond to HFPS was increased by seven times through the addition of the aforementioned reactive metals to the base Sn-Bi solder.

The material characteristics of various optical materials that are known to possess a low thermal expansion property were studied for mechanically and thermally ultra-stable optical applications. In this comparative study on material selection, the key mechanical and thermal properties of four potential low thermal expansion ceramics and three conventional low thermal expansion glass were evaluated under exactly the same testing configurations. This paper describes the results of basic material testing and outlines a comparison of material properties between the potential ceramics and conventional glass. The material testing results showed that the elastic modulus and thermal conductivity of cordierite ceramics were one-and-a-half or more times higher than those of conventional low thermal expansion glass, while ensuring the thermal expansion coefficient roughly matching that of compared glass materials. It was therefore revealed that the cordierite ceramics had most favorable physical properties and could be advantageous alternative materials to the conventional low thermal expansion glass for ultra-lightweight and thermally-stable optical applications.

A new method for measuring the spectrum of surface roughness based on Bragg scattering, is proposed. This method is characterized by its high precision of measurement of the spatial amplitudes and frequencies. Was determined the rang of spatial frequencies (periods) of harmonics in the roughness spectrum surfaces (0,π) (0; π). When the rotation´s angle of grating is (0,π/4) will be a forward scattering or Bragg´s deflector. At rotation´s angle of grating is (π/2,π/4) or (-3π/4,-π/2) will a Bragg´s mirror. The measurements are made in a gradient waveguide, obtained by ion exchange method.

This paper provides a review of advances in 3D printing and additive manufacturing of ceramic and ceramic matrix composites for optical applications. Dr. Goodman has been pioneering additive manufacturing of ceramic matrix composites since 2008. He is the inventor of HoneySiC material, a zero-CTE additively manufactured carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide ceramic matrix composite, briefly mentioned here. More recently Dr. Goodman has turned his attention to the direct printing of ceramics for optical applications via various techniques including slurry and laser sintering of silicon carbide and other ceramic materials.

A new nano-diamond based mechanical polishing process has been developed and optimized for polishing super hard materials such as SiC, sapphire and diamond samples. The nano-diamond based process uses specially engineered nano-diamond particles that has ability to react with super hard materials when used for polishing. Such a reactive nano-diamond process leads to removal rates of about an order higher than the base particles and yields ultra-smooth surfaces (RMS <0.5nm) on the super hard materials along with very low sub-surface damage. The process yielded surface roughness less than 1 nm for silicon carbide, sapphire and diamond materials. The process has been studied for single crystalline, poly-crystalline and composite materials. The removal rates for different materials with the newly developed nano-diamond process compared to base nano-diamond particles and the surface finish obtained with the use of atomic force microscope, optical interferometer and tropel flat master will be presented. The mechanism of nano-diamond process will be explained in the conference.

In the framework of the qualification campaigns for the near infrared spectrometer and photometer instrument (NISP) on board the ESA/EUCLID satellite six optical materials where characterized with respect to their transmission losses after a radiation dose representing the mission exposure to high energy particles in the outer Lagrange point L2. Data was taken between 500 and 2000nm on six 25mm thick coated probes. Thickness and coating being representative for the NISP flight configuration. With this paper we present results owing up the radiation damage shown in [1]. We where able to follow up the decay of the radiation damage over almost one year under ambient conditions. This allows us to distinguish between curing effects that happen on different time-scales. As for some of the materials no radiation damage and thus no curing was detected, all materials that showed significant radiation damage in the measured passband showed two clearly distinguished time scales of curing. Up to 70% of the transmission losses cured on half decay time scales of several tens of days, while the rest of the damage cures on time scales of years.

This paper will present the ceramic design, fabrication and metrology results and assembly plan of the LSST camera optical bench structure which is using the unique manufacturing features of the HB-Cesic technology. The optical bench assembly consists of a rigid “Grid” fabrication supporting individual raft plates mounting sensor assemblies by way of a rigid kinematic support system to meet extreme stringent requirements for focal plane planarity and stability.

A large-scale lightweight mirror that is made of silicon carbide-based material is required for the coming astronomical and earth observation missions. The influence of the inhomogeneity of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) on specular surface accuracy was studied as an important technological issue for such a large optical component. At first, a systematic case study for the series of CTE’s main factors was conducted using the finite element method, and consequently a comprehensive equation to calculate the amount of surface deviation was derived. Based on that technology, finite element analysis to simulate the surface accuracy profile that a test mirror sample showed during cryogenic measurement was carried out using experimentally obtained CTE data from cutout test pieces, and the profile was successfully reproduced.

Microsatellite market requires high performance while minimizing mass, volume and cost. Telescopes are specifically targeted by these trade-offs. One of these is to use the optomechanical structure of the telescope to mount electronic devices that may dissipate heat. However, such approach may be problematic in terms of distortions due to the presence of high thermal gradients throughout the telescope structure. To prevent thermal distortions, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) technology can be used for the optomechanical telescope material structure. CFRP is typically about 100 times less sensitive to thermal gradients and its coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is about 200 to 600 times lower than standard aluminum alloys according to inhouse measurements. Unfortunately, designing with CFRP material is not as straightforward as with metallic materials. There are many parameters to consider in order to reach the desired dimensional stability under thermal, moisture and vibration exposures. Designing optomechanical structures using CFRP involves many challenges such as interfacing with optics and sometimes dealing with high CTE mounting interface structures like aluminum spacecraft buses. INO has designed a CFRP sandwich telescope structure to demonstrate the achievable performances of such technology. Critical parameters have been optimized to maximize the dimensional stability while meeting the stringent environmental requirements that microsatellite payloads have to comply with. The telescope structure has been tested in vacuum from -40°C to +50°C and has shown a good fit with finite element analysis predictions.

The Meteosat Third Generation’s extreme pointing requirements call for a highly stable bracket for mounting the Star Trackers. HB-Cesic®, a chopped fibre reinforced silicon carbide, was selected as a base material for the sensor bracket. The high thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion of HB-Cesic® were the key properties to fulfil the demanding thermo-elastic pointing requirements of below 1μrad/K for the Star Trackers mounting interfaces. Dominated by thermoelastic stability requirements, the design and analysis of the Bracket required a multidisciplinary approach with the focus on thermal and thermo-elastic analyses. Dedicated modal and thermal post-processing strategies have been applied in the scope of the light weighting process. The experimental verification of this thermo-elastic stable system has been a challenging task of its own. A thermo-elastic distortion measurement rig was developed with a stability of <0.1μrad/K in all three rotational degrees of freedom.

The LiteBIRD satellite aims at detecting a signature imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the primordial gravitational wave predicted in inflation, which is an exponentially expanding era before the hot big bang. The extraction of such weak spiral polarization patterns requires the precise subtraction of our Galaxy’s foreground emission such as the synchrotron and the dust emission. In order to separate them from the CMB by using their spectral shape differences, LiteBIRD covers a wide range of observing frequencies. The main telescope, Low Frequency Telescope (LFT), covers the CMB peak frequencies as well as the synchrotron emission. Based on the required sizes of optical elements in the LFT, an order of one meter, the telescope will consist of reflectors rather than lenses since the latter is limited in size availabilities of the corresponding materials. The image quality analysis provides the requirements of reflector surface shape errors within 30um rms. The requirement on surface roughness of 2μm rms is determined from the reflectance requirement. Based on these requirements, we have carried out tradeoff studies on materials used for reflectors and their support structures. One possibility is to athermalize with aluminum, with the expected thermal contract of 0.4% from room temperature to 4-10 K. Another possibility is CFRP with cyanate resin, which is lighter and has negligibly small thermal contraction. For the reflector surface shape measurements including in low temperature, photogrammetry is a strong candidate with suitable accuracy and dynamic range of measurements.

Ultra-low thermal expansion ceramics NEXCERA^TM is regarded as one of potential candidate materials crucial for ultralightweight and thermally-stable optical mirrors for space telescopes which are used in future optical missions satisfying extremely high observation specifications. To realize the high precision NEXCERA mirrors for space telescopes, it is important to develop a deterministic aspheric shape polishing and a precise figure correction polishing method for the NEXCERA. Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) was tested to the NEXCERA aspheric mirror from best fit sphere shape, because the MRF technology is regarded as the best suited process for a precise figure correction of the ultralightweight mirror with thin sheet due to its advantage of low normal force polishing. As using the best combination of material and MR fluid, the MRF was performed high precision figure correction and to induce a hyperbolic shape from a conventionally polished 100mm diameter sphere, and achieved the sufficient high figure accuracy and the high quality surface roughness. In order to apply the NEXCERA to a large scale space mirror, for the next step, a middle size solid mirror, 250 mm diameter concave parabola, was machined. It was roughly ground in the parabolic shape, and was lapped and polished by a computer-controlled polishing machine using sub-aperture polishing tools. It resulted in the smooth surface of 0.6 nm RMS and the figure accuracy of ~ λ/4, being enough as pre-MRF surface. A further study of the NEXCERA space mirrors should be proceeded as a figure correction using the MRF to lightweight mirror with thin mirror sheet.