Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes

The central theme of this thesis is the development of implementing ultrafast laser micromachining technology to the correction of thin-shell lightweight high-resolution mirrors for future high performance X-ray space telescopes. The existing fabrication methods cannot achieve the required accuracy...

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Main Author: Zuo, Heng E.
Other Authors: Schattenburg, Mark L.
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2022
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/140364
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author Zuo, Heng E.
author2 Schattenburg, Mark L.
author_facet Schattenburg, Mark L.
Zuo, Heng E.
author_sort Zuo, Heng E.
collection MIT
description The central theme of this thesis is the development of implementing ultrafast laser micromachining technology to the correction of thin-shell lightweight high-resolution mirrors for future high performance X-ray space telescopes. The existing fabrication methods cannot achieve the required accuracy for individual mirror segments, and the high reflective coatings could distort the mirror figures beyond acceptable tolerance. As mirrors become thinner and more pliant, the need for precise and high throughput figuring methods of thin mirrors becomes more imminent. The main contributions of this thesis is the development of two unique approaches to implement ultrafast laser micromachining technology with stress-based figure correction technique to correct for figure errors and coating distortions in thin mirrors. Rapid developments of ultrafast laser technologies have enabled high accuracy laser material processing and structuring on micron scales. By using simple optical setups with scanning X-Y stages, I showed that both equibiaxial and general biaxial stress fields can be generated with laser micromachined features in thin mirrors. The influences of various micromachining parameters have been examined to establish the effectiveness of the approach. A multi-pass correction scheme is proposed and demonstrated, where a feedback loop is implemented to induce controlled bending and reduce figure errors repeatedly. In addition, a finite element model is built to simulate the bending and stresses in thin mirrors using the stressed film patterning method with ultrafast laser micromachining, and has achieved comparable results with the experiments. Further, the breaking strengths of the mirrors treated with ultrafast laser micromachining have been evaluated, which demonstrates the proposed approaches as viable methods for processing optics for space applications.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1403642022-02-16T03:13:40Z Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes Zuo, Heng E. Schattenburg, Mark L. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics The central theme of this thesis is the development of implementing ultrafast laser micromachining technology to the correction of thin-shell lightweight high-resolution mirrors for future high performance X-ray space telescopes. The existing fabrication methods cannot achieve the required accuracy for individual mirror segments, and the high reflective coatings could distort the mirror figures beyond acceptable tolerance. As mirrors become thinner and more pliant, the need for precise and high throughput figuring methods of thin mirrors becomes more imminent. The main contributions of this thesis is the development of two unique approaches to implement ultrafast laser micromachining technology with stress-based figure correction technique to correct for figure errors and coating distortions in thin mirrors. Rapid developments of ultrafast laser technologies have enabled high accuracy laser material processing and structuring on micron scales. By using simple optical setups with scanning X-Y stages, I showed that both equibiaxial and general biaxial stress fields can be generated with laser micromachined features in thin mirrors. The influences of various micromachining parameters have been examined to establish the effectiveness of the approach. A multi-pass correction scheme is proposed and demonstrated, where a feedback loop is implemented to induce controlled bending and reduce figure errors repeatedly. In addition, a finite element model is built to simulate the bending and stresses in thin mirrors using the stressed film patterning method with ultrafast laser micromachining, and has achieved comparable results with the experiments. Further, the breaking strengths of the mirrors treated with ultrafast laser micromachining have been evaluated, which demonstrates the proposed approaches as viable methods for processing optics for space applications. Ph.D. 2022-02-15T17:02:19Z 2022-02-15T17:02:19Z 2021-09 2022-01-19T20:33:37.947Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/140364 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Zuo, Heng E.
Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes
title Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes
title_full Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes
title_fullStr Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes
title_full_unstemmed Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes
title_short Ultrafast Laser Micromachining for Correction of Thin Optics for Next Generation X-ray Space Telescopes
title_sort ultrafast laser micromachining for correction of thin optics for next generation x ray space telescopes
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/140364
work_keys_str_mv AT zuohenge ultrafastlasermicromachiningforcorrectionofthinopticsfornextgenerationxrayspacetelescopes