Design of the fast steering secondary mirror assembly for the Giant Magellan Telescope

Abstract

The Fast-Steering secondary mirror (FSM) of Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) consists of seven 1.1m diameter segments with effective diameter of 3.2m. Each of the seven segments is held by three axial supports and a central lateral support with a vacuum system to mirror gravity compensations. The mirror assembly has a tip-tilt feature capable of guiding to attenuate telescope wind shake and mount control jitter. Both on-axis and off-axis mirror segments were optimized under various design considerations using finite element analyses and optical performance analyses. An integrated model of the mirror cell assembly was developed including sub-assembly parts consisting of axial supports, lateral support, breakaway mechanism, seismic restraints, and pressure seal. In this paper for the optimized FSM mirror and mirror cell assembly, the design considerations are addressed, and performance prediction results are discussed in detail with respect to the specifications.