Design and fabrication of lightweight additively manufactured mirrors for aviation

Appl Opt. 2022 Mar 20;61(9):2198-2206. doi: 10.1364/AO.450663.

Abstract

This paper proposes a design process for additively manufactured mirrors. A central support aspheric mirror and tripod support structure were manufactured via selective laser melting. To achieve substantial weight reduction, an additively manufactured body-centered cubic lattice structure was used in the mirror design. Simulation analysis showed that the mirror had good rigidity. Single-point diamond turning was applied to obtain an optical quality mirror. After assembly, the rms surface shape accuracy of the mirror was 0.069λ (λ=632.8nm). The surface roughness (Ra) of the additively manufactured metal mirror was 8.125 nm. These findings provide a strong theoretical basis and technical support for the preparation and application of lightweight metal mirrors.