Abstract:
Dynamic optical systems that include active and adaptive optical elements allow the pursuit of scientific investigations, military applications, and medical diagnostics that are well beyond the theoretical capabilities of a purely static optical design. However, the design of such systems is particularly challenging because of the large number of design variables, multiple operating configurations, and the need to coordinate different simulation tools (e.g. optical ray tracing, finite element analysis, dynamic simulations, etc.) during the design and optimization process. This paper presents a design methodology to facilitate the design and optimization of our novel Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM), which includes a fast steering mirror (FSM), a custom designed scanner lens, and a MEMS deformable mirror (DM) to effectively enlarge the field of view in optical microscopy. An "all at once" formulation of the optimization problem using a traditional construction of the merit function proved inadequate. Instead, our approach first partitions the design problem into manageable sub-problems and uses the Collaborative Optimization (CO) framework to coordinate the system wide optimization of the sub-problems while maintaining a physically consistent solution between the simulation codes. Next, we demonstrate the efficacy of the approach by presenting two ASOM designs that were generated using this methodology. The first design is based on high fidelity simulations and the second lower cost version has been constructed and tested in our laboratory using a 32 actuator deformable mirror. We conclude by summarizing our experiences and discussing how the approach could be generalized to other optical system design challenges.
Reference:
B. Potsaid, Y. Bellouard, J.T. Wen (2006). A multidisciplinary design and optimization methodology for the Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM).
Proc. SPIE 6289, Novel Optical Systems Design and Optimization IX, 62890L (5 September 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.680450;
Publication Type:
Conference Articles