Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) Optics Quality Assessment for Lightweight Deployable Optics

Abstract

The Naval Research Laboratory and Composite Mirror Applications (CMA) have been working together for several years on the development of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) optics and telescopes. We have documented the potential advantages of this technology in several other publications, including structural, thermal and weight advantages over traditional steel and glass optical systems. In this paper we present results of a battery of optical tests done on various CFRP replicated mirrors. Our goal is to demonstrate not only the optical quality of such mirrors but also their reproducibility and stability. We show test results on a sample of four mirrors. We performed extensive optical tests and also stability and repeatability tests. These tests are geared towards proving the use of this technology for a variety of optical applications including use in our CFRP telescopes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA531777

Entities

People

  • Christopher C. Wilcox
  • Freddie Santiago
  • Jonathan R. Andrews
  • Robert C. Romeo
  • Robert N. Martin
  • Scott W. Teare
  • Sergio R. Restaino
  • Ty Martinez

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer
  • Carbon Fibers
  • Climate Change
  • Composite Materials
  • Fiber Reinforced Polymers
  • Fibers
  • Interferograms
  • Interferometers
  • Lightweight
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Military Research
  • Optical Interferometers
  • Polymers
  • Telescopes
  • Weight

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Fiber Sensing and Electromagnetic Propagation.
  • Reinforced Composite Materials
  • Software Engineering

Technology Areas

  • Space