Thermal and Electrostatic Microactuators

This dissertation discusses the fundamental limits of scanning mirror design, focusing on the limitations due to the interaction between mechanical properties 
(mirror flatness and dynamic deformation), and optical properties (beam divergence and optical resolution). The performance criteria for both resonant scanning mirrors and steady-state, beampositioning mirrors are related to the mirror geometries, desired optical resolution, material properties, and mechanical resonant frequencies. The optical resolution of the scanning mirror is linearly dependent on the mirror length, so longer mirrors should provide higher-resolution scanners. However, when undergoing an angular acceleration mirrors exhibit dynamic deformation, which is shown to be proportional to the fifth power of the length. The mirror length that gives the highest resolution for a desired resonant frequency is derived by matching the dynamic deformation to the Rayleigh limit; mirrors designed to satisfy this equality provide nearly diffraction-limited optical resolution at the highest possible resonant frequency.