Deformable mirrors (DMs) are a critical technology to enable coronagraphic direct imaging of exoplanets with current and planned ground- and space-based telescopes as well as future mission concepts, such as the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory and the Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor. The latter concepts aim to image exoplanet types ranging from gas giants to Earth analogs. This places several requirements on the DMs such as requires a large actuator count (≳3000), fine surface height resolution (≲10 pm), and radiation hardened driving electronics with low mass and volume. We present the design and testing of a flight-capable, miniaturized DM controller. Having achieved contrasts on the order of 5 × 10 − 9 on a coronagraph testbed in vacuum in the high contrast imaging testbed facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), we demonstrate that the electronics are capable of meeting the requirements of future coronagraph-equipped space telescopes. We also report on functionality testing on-board the high-altitude balloon experiment “Planetary Imaging Concept Testbed Using a Recoverable Experiment – Coronagraph,” which aims to directly image debris disks and exozodiacal dust around nearby stars. The controller is designed for the Boston Micromachines Corporation Kilo-DM and is readily scalable to larger DM formats. The three main components of the system (the DM, driving electronics, and mechanical and heat management) are designed to be compact and have low-power consumption to enable its use not only on exoplanet missions, but also in a wide-range of applications that require precision optical systems, such as direct line-of-sight laser communications. The controller is capable of handling 1024 actuators with 220 V maximum dynamic range, 16-bit resolution, 14-bit accuracy, and 1 kHz operating frequency. The system fits in a 10 × 10 × 5 cm3 volume, weighs <0.5 kg, and consumes <8 W. We have developed a turnkey solution reducing the risk for future missions, lowering their cost by significantly reducing volume, weight, and power consumption of the wavefront control hardware.

中文翻译：

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用于高对比度成像的微机电可变形反射镜开发，第1部分：小型，可飞行的控制电子设备

可变形反射镜（DMs）是一项关键技术，能够使用当前和计划中的地基和空基望远镜以及未来的任务概念，例如可居住的系外行星天文台和大型UV /光学/ IR勘测仪，对系外行星进行日冕直接成像。后一个概念旨在对系外行星类型进行成像，范围从气体巨人到地球类似物。这对DM提出了一些要求，例如要求大量的执行器（≳3000），良好的表面高度分辨率（≲10pm）以及具有低质量和小体积的辐射硬化驱动电子器件。我们介绍可飞行的小型DM控制器的设计和测试。在NASA喷气推进实验室（JPL）的高对比度成像测试台设备上的日冕仪真空测试台上获得了5×10 − 9的对比度，我们证明了这些电子设备能够满足未来配备电晕仪的太空望远镜的要求。我们还报告了高空气球实验“使用可恢复实验的行星成像概念测试台–日冕仪”上的功能测试，该实验旨在直接成像附近恒星周围的碎片盘和外生尘埃。该控制器是为Boston Micromachines Corporation Kilo-DM设计的，可轻松扩展到更大的DM格式。该系统的三个主要组件（DM，驱动电子设备以及机械和热量管理）设计紧凑，功耗低，不仅可以用于系外行星飞行任务，而且可以在广泛的应用中使用需要精密的光学系统，例如直接视线激光通信。该控制器能够处理具有220 V最大动态范围，16位分辨率，14位精度和1 kHz工作频率的1024个执行器。该系统的体积为10×10×5 cm3，重量小于0.5 kg，功耗小于8W。我们开发了一种统包式解决方案，可减少未来执行任务的风险，并通过显着减小体积，重量和功耗来降低成本的波前控制硬件。