Grégoire Tremblay and Ermanno F. Borra, "Optical tests of a 3.7-m-diameter liquid mirror: behavior under external perturbations," Appl. Opt. 39, 5651-5662 (2000)
We built and tested a 3.7-m-diameter liquid mirror that rotates on
a ball bearing. Although the ball bearing is of a poor quality, the
mirror is surprisingly good for one that comprises 1-mm-thick mercury
layers. We found no evidence of the strong astigmatism that might
have been expected from Coriolis forces. We did not detect effects
of turbulence might or vibrations for thin mercury layers, illustrating
the necessity of using thin layers: Large liquid mirrors would have
had unacceptable optical qualities for layers much thicker than 2
mm.
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rms Wave-Front Deviations (632.8-nm units), Strehl
Ratios, and Third-Order Aberrations (Seidel coefficients) of Four
Series of Measurements Obtained with a Mercury Thickness of 1.15
± 0.03 mma
The units are wavelengths (632.8 nm)
for the aberration coefficients and degrees for the angles. (See text
for more details.)
Third-order spherical aberration.
We removed mean values of focus and tilt
plus third-order coma, spherical aberration, and astigmatism. The units
are wavelengths (632.8 nm) for the aberration coefficients and
degrees for the angles.
Third-order spherical aberration.
Lower limit imposed by optical speckle
noise.
Lower limit imposed by concentric waves.
Tables (7)
Table 1
rms Wave-Front Deviations (632.8-nm units), Strehl
Ratios, and Third-Order Aberrations (Seidel coefficients) of Four
Series of Measurements Obtained with a Mercury Thickness of 1.15
± 0.03 mma
The units are wavelengths (632.8 nm)
for the aberration coefficients and degrees for the angles. (See text
for more details.)
Third-order spherical aberration.
We removed mean values of focus and tilt
plus third-order coma, spherical aberration, and astigmatism. The units
are wavelengths (632.8 nm) for the aberration coefficients and
degrees for the angles.
Third-order spherical aberration.