The present invention provides a two-piece apparatus for holding and aligning
the MEMS deformable mirror. The two-piece apparatus comprises a holding plate for
fixedly holding an adaptive optics element in an overall optical system and a base
spatially fixed with respect to the optical system and adapted for mounting and
containing the holding plate. The invention further relates to a means for configuring
the holding plate through adjustments to each of a number of off-set pads touching
each of three orthogonal plane surfaces on the base, wherein through the adjustments
the orientation of the holding plate, and the adaptive optics element attached
thereto, can be aligned with respect to the optical system with six degrees of
freedom when aligning the plane surface of the optical element. The mounting system
thus described also enables an operator to repeatedly remove and restore the adaptive
element in the optical system without the need to realign the system once that
element has been aligned.
