Bimorph mirrors: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

TLDR: In this paper, three pairs of bimorph mirrors were re-polished at Thales-SESO to remove the junction effect and significantly improved beamline performance, and the results showed that the internal structure of the mirrors will retain their surface quality, and remain operational for many years.

Abstract: Bimorph mirrors are widely used by the X-ray, Laser, Space, and Astronomy communities to focus or collimate photon beams. Applying voltages to the embedded piezo ceramics enables the user to globally bend the optical substrate to a range of figures (including cylindrical, parabolic, and elliptical), and finely correct low spatial frequency errors, thus improving optical performance. Bimorph mirrors are employed on numerous synchrotron X-ray beamlines, including several at Diamond Light Source. However, many such beamlines were not achieving the desired size and shape of the reflected X-ray beam. Metrology data from ex-situ, slope measuring profilometry (using the Diamond-NOM) and in-situ, synchrotron X-ray “pencil-beam” scans, revealed sharp defects on the optical substrate directly above the locations at which the piezo ceramics are bonded together. This so-called “junction effect” has been observed on a variety of bimorph mirrors with different numbers of piezos, substrate length, and thickness. To repair this damage, three pairs of bimorph mirrors were re-polished at Thales-SESO. We review the re-polishing process, and show that it successfully removed the junction effect, and significantly improved beamline performance. Since the internal structure of the bimorph mirrors was not modified during re-polishing, it is hoped that the mirrors will retain their surface quality, and remain operational for many years. We also highlight the combination of super-polishing techniques with bimorph technology to create the “Ultimate” mirror, and discuss a next generation, bimorph mirror which is predicted not to suffer from the junction effect.