Flexure Design for a High-Speed Large-Range Tip-Tilt-Piston Micro- mirror Array

INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to introduce the flexure topology of a new, high fill-factor (99%) micromirror array (10,000 1mm 2 mirrors) that can achieve continuous, closed-loop control of three degrees of freedom (DOFs)—tip, tilt, and piston—over large ranges (>±10 o rotation and >±30μm translation) at high speeds (10’s of kHz). The flexure topology of this array was designed using the Freedom and Constraint Topologies (FACT) synthesis approach, which utilizes geometric shapes to help designers rapidly consider every flexure topology that best achieves a desired set of DOFs. The performance capabilities of this new mirror array will enable, or significantly improve, the performance of a variety of high-impact technologies. Examples include: (i) optical switches, (ii) confocal microscopes, (iii) autostereoscopic displays, (iv) micro-projectors, (v) high-speed focusable LIDAR systems, (vi) micro-additive fabrication approaches that utilize principles of light steering (e.g., two photon polymerization or optical tweezers), and (vii) high-powered laser steering systems for defense applications including projectile interception. A single mirror prototype has been built to-scale to demonstrate the design’s fabrication feasibility.