Texas Instrument’s DC2K DLP Chip Set is a candidate to be used as the Digital Micro-Mirror Device in Euclid’s spectrograph.  Currently Texas Instruments DLP Chip Sets are only used for commercial (room temperature) type of applications and must therefore be verified suitable for the Euclid environment.

Visitech’s main role in the study is to design and realize the specialized test vehicles that will be used in the study.  The test vehicles will consist of two connected printed circuit boards holding the DC2K DLP Chip Sets and all supporting electronics specially designed to support the different tests to be performed.  The DLP chip sets will be exposed to functional testing and optical characterization of the micro-mirrors at low temperatures under vacuum conditions, low temperature life testing, thermal cycling tests, cosmic radiation exposure testing, mechanical shock and vibration testing.   The project is scheduled to last for 13 months.

Visitech will work together with Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) on this project.  LAM is one of the major astrophysical laboratory in France. Its interests concern observational cosmology, galaxies evolution, interstellar matter, solar system and small bodies exploration, and exo-planets detection and analysis.  LAM is also involved in instruments design, realization and integration.  LAM has significant experience in optical characterization of MOEMS in the combination of vacuum and low temperatures.

DLP has a great potential for use in space exploration, if it can withstand space environment which is far tougher than it was designed for.  EUCLID is merely the first application.  Using the large DMD micro-mirror array as selective mirrors in spectrographic and similar optically related applications provides astronomers and scientists with novel opportunities.