title: Long-Wavelength Beam Steerer Based on a Micro-Electromechanical Mirror.
abstract: Commercially available mirrors for scanning long-wavelength beams are too large for high-speed imaging. There is a need for a smaller, more agile pointing apparatus to provide images in seconds, not minutes or hours. A fast long-wavelength beam steerer uses a commercial micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror controlled by a high-performance digital signal processor (DSP). The DSP allows high-speed raster scanning of the incident radiation, which is focused to a small waist onto the 9mm(2), gold-coated, MEMS mirror surface, while simultaneously acquiring an undistorted, high spatial-resolution image of an object. The beam steerer hardware, software and performance are described. The system can also serve as a miniaturized, high-performance long-wavelength beam chopper for lock-in detection.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO 80305.
authors.forename: Anthony B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Kos
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO 80305.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gerecht
keywords: DSP; MEMS; image raster-scanning; long-wavelength; long-wavelength beams; long-wavelength imaging; quasi-optical coupling; terahertz; terahertz beams; terahertz imaging; terahertz switching elements