Optimal Design of the Monolithic Flexure Mount for Optical Mirror Using Response Surface Method

An optimal design of a simple beam-shaped flexure hinge mount supporting an optical mirror is presented. An optical mirror assembly is an opto-mechanically coupled system as the optical and mechanical behaviors interact. This side-supporting mount is flexible in the radial direction and rigid for the remaining degrees of freedom to support the mirror without transferring thermal load. Through thermo-elastic, optical and eigenvalue analysis, opto-mechanical performance was predicted to establish the objective functions for optimization. The key design parameters for this flexure are the thickness and length. To find the optimal values of design parameters, response surface analysis was performed using the design of experiment based on nested FCD. Optimal design candidates were derived from the response surface analysis, and the optimal design shape was confirmed through Opto-mechanical performance validation analysis.