The deformable mirror with the size of
$410~\text{mm}\times 468~\text{mm}$
controlled by the bimorph piezoceramic plates and multilayer piezoceramic stacks was developed. The results of the measurements of the response functions of all the actuators and of the surface shape of the deformable mirror are presented in this paper. The study of the mirror with a Fizeau interferometer and a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor has shown that it was possible to improve the flatness of the surface down to a residual roughness of
$0.033~{\rm\mu}\text{m}$
(RMS). The possibility of correction of the aberrations in high-power lasers was numerically demonstrated.
The future of adaptive optics relies heavily on the development of membranous optical lenses. Large, deformable mirrors offer clear advantages over their glass counterparts: flexibility, low density, and minimal actuation for optical aberration correction. This paper develops a novel set of polynomials to describe incoming wavefront aberrations that is amiable to a membrane mirror’s mode shapes. The novel basis, named the clamped Zernike radial polynomials, conveniently delineates the image correction into four distinct actuation categories feasible with membrane optics.
Wide aperture piezoceramic deformable mirrors for aberration correction in high-power lasers