ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Astronomical Instrumentation
Surface figure metrology for reflective membrane mirrors based on phase-measuring deflectometry
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, China
- 2Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics & Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Nanjing, China
- 3Purple Mountain Observatory, Nanjing, China
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Reflective membrane mirrors provide a lightweight, low-cost alternative to traditional optics for next-generation large-aperture telescopes, but their non-rigid, thin structure poses challenges for surface metrology. We present a phase-measuring deflectometry (PMD) system enhanced with tailored ray-tracing and iterative reconstruction to enable non-contact measurement of large membrane optics. The system successfully characterizes the surface figure and evaluates the dynamic stability of a 1-meter Hencky-type membrane mirror. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of PMD as a practical metrology tool for future membrane-based telescope systems.
Keywords: Membrane telescopes, Phase-Measuring Deflectometry, Mirror surface, Metrology analysis, Astronomical
Received: 17 Sep 2025; Accepted: 13 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yan, Zhuang, Du, Duan, Yin, Yu and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guang Yang, gyang@niaot.ac.cn
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