Apparatus comprising and method of centrifugally casting a parabolic membrane mirror having a shape-restorative force
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
InventorsRichard A. Carreras, Dan K. Marker, James M. Wilkes, Dennis Duneman, James R. Rotge
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Abstract
Attorney Docket No. PRS0586A method for fabricating an optical quality, free-standing, compliant parabolic membrane mirror is described using an inverted parabolic mandrel created by rotating a liquid confined to a cylindrical container, forming a membrane substrate by pouring into the mandrel a fast curing liquid polymer and applying a reflective optical stress coating once the substrate has hardened.
Claims2
A method for fabricating an optical quality, free-standing, compliant parabolic membrane mirror, the method comprising the steps of:
- rotating a first liquid contained in a cylindrical enclosure about the cylindrical axis to create a parabolic-shaped inverted mandrel;
- pouring a fast curing liquid polymer into said inverted mandrel to thereby form a substrate of said membrane mirror;
- applying a reflective optical stress coating to said membrane mirror substrate once said substrate material has hardened;
- and
- removing said membrane mirror from said inverted mandrel once the optical stress coating has cured, thereby forming a free-standing, compliant parabolic membrane mirror.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.