Fabrication of electroactive polymer actuators for adjustable X-ray optics

Abstract

Adjustable X-ray mirror facets have been identified as a technology that could enable >2m2 effective area X-ray optics with sub-arcsecond angular resolution. Electroactive polymers can produce high strains at low voltages, being able to correct the deformations that submillimeter-thick mirror shells experience during mounting and assembly of the optical system. In this paper, we describe the fabrication of μm-scale poly-vinylidene fluoride- co-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) electroactive polymer films on at Si substrates with individually-addressable electrodes. The fabrication protocol is low-cost, scalable, and can easily be translated to production by industrial partners. With fabrication temperatures below 150° C, PVDF-TrFE actuator arrays can be deposited on mirror substrates inducing minimal thermal and coating stress.