Large flexible membrane mirrors

The trend to minimize the thickness in optical mirrors has led to several practical limits in their fabrication and operation. The design of a flexible membrane mirror segment, which overcomes most of these limitations and can be conformed to giant segmented primary mirrors, is presented. The segment consists of a lightweight multi-layer hybrid structure, which will permit precise active control of the reflecting surface by means of a continuous elastic medium interface with embedded pneumatic actuators. Conceptual designs, finite element analysis model simulations and experimental results are included.