An Optofiuidic Refractive Phase Modulator with an Electrostatic 2D Actuator Array

We present a new optofiuidic refractive phase modulator as an alternative to state-of-the-art deformable mirrors targeting adaptive optics microscopy. When employed together with a sensorless wavefront estimation technique, this device can simplify the architecture of the conventional adaptive optics systems by eliminating need for folded optical path. With an 37-electrode architecture, it can attain a best-flat of 9 nm under open-loop control and can correct up to the 4thorder Zernike modes with high accuracy and fidelity.