Hexfoil Rotary Flexures

Hexfoil rotary flexures have been proposed as pivots suitable for use in precise optical instruments. In the application that inspired the hexfoil concept, there is a requirement for a limited-rotation mirror gimbal that would maintain, with unprecedented accuracy, coincidence among the axes of rotation and a fiducial mark on the mirror, over the entire range of rotation. Theoretically, a hexfoil rotary flexure could satisfy this requirement.