Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology (NIAOT) has successfully developed nanoscale high-precision micro-displacement actuators based on LAMOST, addressing the critical issue of dependence on foreign imports for such actuators.

Furthermore, NIAOT has developed Rayleigh laser guide star technology based on LAMOST, taking a significant step forward in the successful development of adaptive and active optics for future large optical telescopes.

The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) leads the international trend of large-scale spectroscopic surveys with its unique innovative design and outstanding performance.

The "Active Deformable Mirror Optical System," which was first proposed by Academician Su Dingqiang in 1986 and successfully developed on LAMOST, pioneers a new direction in active optics. It overcomes the bottleneck of not being able to have both a wide field of view and a large aperture telescope, making LAMOST the world's largest wide-field telescope with the biggest aperture.

Among the key components of LAMOST's active optical system, technologies such as wavefront sensors, force actuators, and mirror supporting system have been localized.

However, one of the key active optical components—nanoscale high-accuracy micro- displacement actuators—has long relied on imports, posing significant safety risks to the stable operation and data production of LAMOST.

As early as the 1990s, NIAO took a forward-looking approach in its research on displacement actuators. Through years of in-depth study and mastery of multiple technologies for the development of nanoscale high-accuracy micro-displacement actuators, NIAO successfully developed such displacement actuators with excellent performance.

This laid a solid foundation for the independent development of micro-displacement actuators for large-aperture optical segmented mirror telescopes.

Under the support of the National Major Scientific and Technological Infrastructure Repair and Renovation Project, NIAO independently developed a new batch of nanoscale high-accuracy micro-displacement actuators to replace the imported ones that had been in service beyond their lifecycle in LAMOST.

A total of 219 sets of nanoscale high-accuracy micro-displacement actuators and 37 sets of intelligent controllers were manufactured, with the actuators achieving a resolution as high as 4.45 nanometers. 

This addresses the demand for critical components in the construction of China's upcoming 10-meter class large-aperture segmented telescope and fully leverages LAMOST's role as an advanced platform for cutting-edge technological development in China.

The project team systematically conquered the core components of micro-displacement actuators, independently mastered the key technologies, and successfully resolved the "chokepoint" issue, ending the 17-year reliance on imports.

These nanoscale high-accuracy micro-positioning actuators also hold promise for application in industrial robots. 

Figure 1 LAMOST  nanoscale high-accuracy micro-displacement actuator

Figure 2 LAMOST intelligent controllers for nanoscale high-accuracy micro-displacement actuator

Figure 3: On-site emission of a Rayleigh laser beacon

Figure 4 Captured laser dot matrix pattern and localization accuracy calculation