Applied Materials Technology Limited - Low Cost Custom Laser Reflectors
Lead Participant:
APPLIED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
Abstract
Applied Materials Technology (AMT) proposes a 12 month, £187k, development of prototype
project to progress Decoupleable Deformable Mirrors (DDM), a novel approach to the
production of affordable, custom, high precision mirrors for optical devices. DDM will allow
beam quality to be transformed i.e. from a highly aberrated beam to M2 approaching 1.1.
AMT will initially target DDM at the laser market; a large industry that has experienced
strong, continued growth since 2009. Many laser users demand high beam quality, currently
achieved at high cost by inherently high beam quality lasers, and/or by corrective optics,
including adaptive optics (AO). The high beam quality laser market competes on cost, system
mass, volume & efficiency; a method for producing compact, light, efficient & high beam
quality lasers at low cost has the potential to be highly disruptive. DDM will allow high
quality beams to be produced from compact, efficient, low quality laser sources at low cost.
DDM & AO share some similarities; each involve the measurement of beam characteristics,
and a computer-driven actuator array to control the geometry of the deformable mirror which
governs the reflected beam characteristics. Crucial innovative steps in DDM allow the mirror
geometry to be maintained when decoupled from the actuator array, with the custom mirror
then being provided to the customer and the actuator array being reused by the mirror
manufacturer.
The principal stages of the project are: to finalise the design & materials for the mirror; to
establish a manufacturing process; to conduct trials to confirm the validity of the approach.
By taking a clean-sheet approach to the custom mirrors, AMT will bring DDM to market at a
target price of 1/40 to 1/10 the cost of adaptive optics, offering cost saving and opening up
potential new areas for use. The timeliness and potential demand for the product have been
supported by a range of leading industry experts and high value manufacturing companies.
project to progress Decoupleable Deformable Mirrors (DDM), a novel approach to the
production of affordable, custom, high precision mirrors for optical devices. DDM will allow
beam quality to be transformed i.e. from a highly aberrated beam to M2 approaching 1.1.
AMT will initially target DDM at the laser market; a large industry that has experienced
strong, continued growth since 2009. Many laser users demand high beam quality, currently
achieved at high cost by inherently high beam quality lasers, and/or by corrective optics,
including adaptive optics (AO). The high beam quality laser market competes on cost, system
mass, volume & efficiency; a method for producing compact, light, efficient & high beam
quality lasers at low cost has the potential to be highly disruptive. DDM will allow high
quality beams to be produced from compact, efficient, low quality laser sources at low cost.
DDM & AO share some similarities; each involve the measurement of beam characteristics,
and a computer-driven actuator array to control the geometry of the deformable mirror which
governs the reflected beam characteristics. Crucial innovative steps in DDM allow the mirror
geometry to be maintained when decoupled from the actuator array, with the custom mirror
then being provided to the customer and the actuator array being reused by the mirror
manufacturer.
The principal stages of the project are: to finalise the design & materials for the mirror; to
establish a manufacturing process; to conduct trials to confirm the validity of the approach.
By taking a clean-sheet approach to the custom mirrors, AMT will bring DDM to market at a
target price of 1/40 to 1/10 the cost of adaptive optics, offering cost saving and opening up
potential new areas for use. The timeliness and potential demand for the product have been
supported by a range of leading industry experts and high value manufacturing companies.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| APPLIED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY LIMITED | £187,150 | £ 84,218 |
Participant |
||
| THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY BOARD |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Iain Glass (Project Manager) |