A Study on Structural Design of a Spherical Mirror using Geometric Shapes
With the advancement of optical design and manufacturing technology, optical components have found diverse applications, spanning from semiconductors to the aerospace industry. A reflective mirror is a basic component in optics and plays a crucial role as the medium to reflect light. In this paper, a large mirror with a 700mm diameter was designed as a primary mirror using fused silica. The rear side of the mirror was subdivided into several equal angles, and neighboring vertices on the circumference were connected to establish a polygon. Accordingly, the geometric shapes of triangle, square, pentagon, and hexagon were formed. Furthermore, the mirror structure was strengthened by employing straight lines passing the vertices and the center of the circle. Based on the finite element analysis, deformations of the mirrors caused by the gravitational force were evaluated. Weight and deformation of the mirror structures were compared and analyzed to find a proper structure to reduce weight and deformation. This paper, therefore, presents a structural solution aimed at reducing the weight and deformation of a large aperture mirror induced by gravitational forces, thereby suggesting a geometric shape based structure to reduce surface deformation of a mirror.