Watertown, Mass., January 10, 2006
Boston Micromachines Corporation, a leading provider of MEMS-based deformable mirror products for adaptive optics systems, today announced the Mini-DM™, the first cost effective, high resolution, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirror.

The Mini-DM is the newest product in Boston Micromachines’ award-winning suite of MEMS deformable mirrors which are used to improve resolution in microscopes, telescopes, and ophthalmic instruments.

“Until now researchers and scientists without significant budget were unable to leverage MEMS technology in their research projects,” said Paul Bierden, president and CEO of Boston Micromachines. “Because the Mini-DM is a true off the shelf product with high performance and a low price tag it allows researchers to accomplish “proof-of- principle” experiments without the investment formerly required. This product will extend the range of applications for which adaptive optics is economical.”

The Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York has built a novel optical microscope with a greatly expanded field of view using the Mini-DM.

“We chose Boston Micromachines’ Mini-DM because of its low cost, high speed operation, and ability to achieve relatively large surface displacements at high spatial frequencies,” said Benjamin Potsaid, research scientist at the CATS. “This new mirror allowed us to successfully demonstrate and experimentally validate the unique capabilities of our optical microscope design with a very short development time and minimal integration effort.”

About the Mini-DM
The Mini-DM is an advanced wavefront control device that consists of a mirror membrane supported by an underlying actuator array. Each actuator in the array can be individually deflected by electrostatic actuation to achieve the desired pattern of deformation. Unlike piezoelectric mirrors, electrostatic actuation ensures mirror deformation without hysteresis.

The compact and affordable Mini-DM is ideal for laboratory-scale adaptive optics and low-order wavefront control. The active mirror area is deformed by thirty-two actuators and can reach frame rates up to 1000 Hz with a fully-integrated controller and user-friendly interface. In addition to the deformable mirror, this turnkey system comes complete with a USB controller, software and a gimbal mount for easy installation.