!%Boston Micromachines Corp. (BMC)%! of Cambridge, Mass., has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research contract for $125,000 by NASA to advance exoplanet imaging research involving deformable mirrors. BMC will develop and demonstrate an innovative microfabrication process to substantially improve the surface quality achievable in high-resolution continuous-membrane microelectromechanical systems deformable mirrors. The goals include at least a twofold improvement in small-scale surface flatness in comparison with the state of the art, and corresponding reductions in diffraction. The research also could have an impact on commercial applications such as optical communications, surveillance, pulse shaping and biological imaging.