The 384-channel prototype of DM Electronics for ELT AO systems

High order AO subsystems of the ELT require technological advancements in the Deformable Mirror (DM) construction and corresponding improvements in the drive electronics. Advanced prototyping is currently under way at NSI-Herzberg to reduce risks of deploying untried technology in the TMT AO subsystem NFIRAOS. We have developed a 96-channel output module and constructed a sub-scale DM Electronics prototype NDME384 with 384 output channels based on 4 such modules. French DM vendor Cilas has fabricated the NFIRAOS DM Breadoboard with 360 piezoelectric actuators in a 60×6 matrix, to demonstrate the DM technology to be deployed in NFIRAOS wavefront correctors. We present the results of testing our NDME384 prototype while driving the NFIRAOS DM Breadoboard.
Adaptive Optics Systems IV, June 22-27, 2014
Series: Proceedings of SPIE; no. 9148