Boston Micromachines Corporation
| Industry |
Deformable mirror Adaptive Optics MEMS |
|---|---|
| Founded | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. (1999) |
| Founder |
Dr. Thomas Bifano Paul Bierden |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
Area served | worldwide |
| Products | Customized MEMS products and standardized Deformable mirrors such as the Kilo-,Multi- and Mini-DM |
| Website | BostonMicromachines.com |
Boston Micromachines Corporation is a US company operating out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Boston Micromachines manufactures and develops MEMS deformable mirrors to perform open- and closed- loop adaptive optics. The technology is applied in Beam Shaping, Astronomy, Vision Science, Retinal Imaging, general Microscopy and supports national defense; any application in need of wavefront manipulation.
History
Founded in 1999 by Dr. Thomas Bifano and Paul Bierden (CEO), Boston Micromachines is a provider of advanced MEMS-based mirror products for use in commercial adaptive optics systems which apply wavefront correction to produce high resolution images of the human retina and enhance blurred images. The company also performs research in optical MEMS fabrication.[1][2]
Research and Development
Boston Micromachines is funded in part by research programs and develops new products for astronomy, microscopy,pulse shaping, beam shaping, fiber coupling, space optics, retinal imaging and for defense purposes.[3]
Most recently, Boston Micromachines has developed an Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope for high-resolutionin vivo imaging in the human retina for use in pre-clinical studies.[4] Capabilities include quantitative measures of cone physiology, detection of microaneurysms and small vessel blood flow profiling.
Applications
Astronomy
Boston Micromachines develops deformable mirrors for telescopes to correct for atmospheric disturbance, in the search for new planets and enhanced images.[5] A project currently taking advantage of BMC's mirror technology is the ViLLaGEs Project at the Lick Observatory.
Biological Imaging
Through the use of adaptive optics, deformable mirrors can be used to enhance Confocal techniques such as two-photon excitation fluorescence (2PEF), second- and/or third-Harmonic Generation (SHG/THG, respectively), Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS), Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO), Optical coherence tomography (OCT) as well as conventional wide-field microscopy.[6] Of particular interest is that deformable mirrors increase the resolution of retinal[7] images to achieve ~2 µm resolution levels. Photoreceptor cells are around 3 µm in diameter. Without adaptive optics, resolution levels are in the 10-15 µm range. Research using other confocal techniques is currently taking place at such locations as the University of Durham, Harvard University and Boston University.
Laser beam and pulse shaping
Boston Micromachines deformable mirrors are capable of correcting for atmospheric distortion in long distance laser communication, and other pulse shaping applications.[8]
Products
| Actuator Array | 6x6 | 12x12 | 24x24(circular) | 32x32 |
| Actuator Stroke | 1.5-5.5 μm | 1.5 μm, 3.5 μm | 1.5 μm | |
| Actuator Pitch | 300-450 μm | 300 μm | 300-350 μm | |
| Aperture | 1.5 - 2.25 mm | 3.3 - 4.95 mm | 6.9 mm, 9.2 mm | 9.3 mm |
| Surface Type | Continuous or Segmented | |||
| Mirror Coating | Gold, aluminum or silver | |||
| Average step size | sub nanometer | |||
| Hysteresis | none | |||
| Fill factor | 99% or more | |||
| Mechanical Response Time | 100μs or less (~3.5 kHz) | 20μs or less | ||
| Surface Quality | less than 20 NanoMeters (RMS) | |||
| Driver Specifications | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frame rate | 8 kHz (34 kHz bursts) | 34 kHz / 60 kHz low latency | up to 60 kHz | |
| Resolution | 14 Bit | |||
| Driver Dimensions | 4 in x 5.25 in x 1.2 in | 9 in x 7 in x 2.5 in | 5.25 in x 19 in x 14 in | 5.25 in x 19 in x 14 in |
| Computer Interface | USB 2.0 | PCIe card | ||
Many project deliverables and deformable mirrors are customized for specific applications.[9]
MEMS Optical Modulator
The BMC MEMS Optical Modulator was designed for use in free space optical communication systems. The modulator is a reflective diffraction grating with controllable groove depth. It is capable of continuous far field intensity variation of a reflected laser beam by varying either between an unpowered flat mirror-state and a powered diffractive-state either gradually or in a binary fashion. The device design is based on BMC’s heritage deformable mirror technology that uses hysteresis-free electrostatic actuators to periodically deform a continuous mirror facesheet.
| Aperture | 9mm | |
| Actuation Design | Single | |
| Surface Type | Continuous | |
| Mirror Coating | Gold or aluminum | |
| Average step size | Analog | |
| Hysteresis | None | |
| Fill factor | 99% or more | |
| Mechanical Response Time | Less than 20μs | |
| Surface Quality | Less than 6 nm (RMS) | |
Management
- Paul Beirden, President and CEO
- Dr. Thomas Bifano. Chief Technology Officer
- Steve Cornelissen, Vice President of Engineering
Awards
- 2010 R&D 100 Awards, Bioscience for MEMS-based Adaptive Optics Optical Coherence Tomography Instrument
- 2009 Dr. Thomas Bifano Awarded Bepi Colombo Prize
- 2007 Micro/Nano 25 Awards, Innovation
- 2003 R&D 100 Award, MEMS Based Adaptive Optics Phoropter
See also
- Wavefront sensor
- Adaptive optics
- The era of adaptive optics
- Microelectromechanical systems
- Deformable mirror
- Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy
References
- ↑ 2010 SPIE Proceedings, Shaping light: MEMS deformable mirrors for microscopes and telescopes. “”
- ↑ Preliminary characterization of Boston Micromachines' 4096-actuator deformable mirror. ""
- ↑ Boston Micromachines, Publications. “”
- ↑ http://www.bostonmicromachines.com/aoslo.htm
- ↑ GPI , GPI Adaptive Optics Subsystem , “”
- ↑ Delphine Débarre, Edward J. Botcherby, Martin J. Booth, and Tony Wilson, Adaptive optics for structured illumination microscopy, 2008, “”
- ↑ Weiyao Zou and Stephen A. Burns ,High-accuracy wavefront control for retinal imaging with Adaptive-Influence-Matrix Adaptive Optics, 2009, “”
- ↑ Steven Menn, Steven A. Cornelissen, Paul A. Bierden , 2007, Advances in MEMS deformable mirror technology for laser beam shaping, “”
- ↑ Andrew Norton, Donald Gavel, Daren Dillon and Steven Cornelissen, 2010, High-power visible-laser effect on a Boston Micromachines MEMS deformable mirror, “”