Results of the beryllium AMSD mirror cryogenic optical testing

The 1.4-meter semi-rigid, beryllium Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD) mirror completed initial cryogenic testing at Marshall’s X-ray Calibration Facility (XRCF) in August of 2003. Results of this testing show the mirror to have very low cryogenic surface deformation and possess exceptional figure stability. Additionally, the mirror substrate exhibits virtually no change in surface figure over the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) operational temperature range of 30 to 62 Kelvin. The lightweighted, semi-rigid mirror architecture approach demonstrated here is a precursor to the mirror technology being applied to the JWST observatory. Testing at ambient and cryogenic temperatures included the radius of curvature actuation system and the rigid body displacement system. These two systems incorporated the use of 4 actuators to allow the mirror to change piston, tilt, and radius of curvature. Presented here are the results of the figure change, alignment change, and radius change as a function of temperature. Also shown will be the actuator influence functions at both ambient and cryogenic temperatures.