A thermo-field bimetal deformable mirror for wavefront correction in high power lasers

A novel thermo-field bimetal deformable mirror (TBDM) is proposed, which is mainly composed of a face plate, a base plate and some thermal elements, such as thermoelectric coolers (TECs). The TBDM utilizes the continuous thermal field to bend the face plate, via the TECs heating or cooling. A prototype is described, and the first results are presented. The simplicity and ultra-low cost make the TBDM attractive in correcting aberrations in high power lasers.