Tilt displacement range testing for a piezoelectric deformable mirror

In our previous works, we presented a zoom system and image stabilization design based on deformable mirrors (DMs). According to the high bandwidth and free edge characteristics of the piezoelectric deformable mirror (PDM), we tested the system's image-stable capability. We found the PDM could realize some tilt displacements while keeping a certain stable surface shape, it could obtain higher image stabilizing precision when integrated with the traditional mechanical image stabilization systems. In the design of the image stabilization system, the PDM's tilt displacement range is a key factor for consideration. So in this paper, we carried out a tilt displacement range testing experiment by using the OKO's 37-channel PDM. We measured and analyzed the variation of the tilt displacements in optical image stabilization process, and calculated the maximum tilt angle as the PDM surface shape was stabilized. We built an experimental platform consisting of a fixed target, an imaging system based on PDM, and a CCD camera. We used the ZYGO interferometer as an evaluation instrument to measure the surface shape stability. When the PDM surface had a tilt displacement, the image point of the fixed target on the camera sensor shifted correspondingly. The tilt angle of the PDM could be obtained by calculating this shift. The results showed that the maximum tilt angle of the PDM was 0.2mrad. The paper also analyzed the experiment errors when concerning about the off-axis error of the PDM deflection center.