Switching Electronics for Space-based Telescopes with Advanced AO Systems

One preferred approach to directly image an exoplanet is to build a space-based telescope instrumented with advanced internal coronagraphs, where deformable mirrors (DMs) with high actuator counts are essential for achieving very high contrast detection. When actuator quantities are in thousands, the electrical driver poses a fascinating challenge for space-based applications, where power and mass are limited, and reliability is extremely important for the mission life-time in space. What proposed is a 64x64 channels of monolithic multiplexed driver, which can deliver voltages up to 300 V to all the actuators at different time slots. Thus the required operation power is greatly reduced. By vertically integrating the application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) driver with a DM, the potential wiring failure will be eliminated. Furthermore, radiation resistance will be emphasized during ASIC design. More »