Digital deflection micromirrors for adaptive optics applications

We report a novel digital deflection electrostatic piston micromirror driven by a vertical out-of-plane micro-mechanical digital-to-analog converter for adaptive optics applications. Using the digital deflection micromirror, the D/A converters required for the analog displacement control are eliminated, the driving circuitry simplified, and overall cost of the adaptive system can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, due to the hysteresis nature of parallel plate electrostatic actuators, a large array of micromirrors can be controlled via row and column "strobe" lines. Therefore, the number of routing wires can be drastically reduced and a large array of mirrors can be controlled by off-chip electronics.