Concept design of an electrostatic actuated controlled liquid mirror

The conceptual design of an electrostatically- actuated liquid mirror is presented. This design uses mercury as a mirror material because it is liquid at room temperature, exhibits high optical reflectivity and is amenable to electrostatic actuation. We assess the feasibility of controlling the mercury surface through electrostatic control. Finite element analysis is used to simulate the surface profile of the liquid mercury subjected to an electrical bias. Because our design employs segmented partitions that we refer to as Mercury Reflecting Surfaces (MRS), we compare the model predictions to experimental measurements of a prototype MRS element. Our findings lay the groundwork for simulating MRS elements for electrostatic actuation which are relevant to realizing fabrication of liquid mirrors with meter-scale dimensions.