Development of key adaptive mirror technologies for the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)

Low density substrate materials based on silicon carbide variants may have the potential for use as a shell material for large deformable mirrors. Instrumentation optics for ELTs will also utilise optics of significant size, and will be mass-sensitive. By taking existing materials and components and modifying them to meet the demands of European ELT requirements we will demonstrate a cost-effective and risk-mitigating technological advantage. We will demonstrate that 'sandwiching' silicon carbide in a material such as silicon dioxide will lead to a technological advantage to a novel concept of large deformable mirror shell. We will analyse the mechanical integrity for the application and demonstrate control of the surface position and deformation using existing Piezo actuators modified with a surface sensing transducer.