Vol. 5, Special Issue, March 2009, pp.104-118

Design and Analysis of a Fast Steering Mirror for Precision Laser Beams Steering

¹Qingkun ZHOU, ²Pinhas BEN-TZVI and ¹Dapeng FAN

¹College of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, National University of Defense Technology,

Changsha Hunan 410073, P. R. China

²Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science,

The George Washington University, 801 22nd St., NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA

Tel.: (202) 994-6149

E-mail: zqkhome@gmail.com, bentzvi@gwu.edu

Received: 29 January 2009   /Accepted: 22 February 2009   /Published: 23 March 2009

Abstract: Precision laser beam steering is critical in numerous applications. Also, precise pointing of laser beams is essential in challenging environments. The optical signal may be deflected, drift and wander due to environmental influences. The core problem of steering performances is to deal with the jitter disturbance. Based on the analysis of the beam angle steering system, some important factors to design the structure of a Fast Steering Mirror (FSM) and the layout of laser optics steering system are presented. Flexure hinges with compliant mechanisms are used to build the FSM structure. A 4-quadrant detector is used as the sensor for the incoming light. A design of the developed control loop and concepts of the FSM model are discussed. A comparison between the measured gain response and the simulation model of the FSM reveals similarity between the theoretical simulation model and the real system, and offers a way to improve the model to better resemble the real system. A laser beam jitter control test bed is also introduced to improve jitter control techniques.

Keywords: Precision laser beam steering, fast steering mirror, flexure hinges, optical focusing control, jitter compensation.

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