Thermal Effects In Optical Systems

Optical systems often have to operate over a wide temperature range. The effects of temperature changes on the performance of some typical optical systems are described in this paper. Methods used to counteract such variations in optical properties range from servo-controlled motion of the components and bimetal mounts with reciprocating motions to, as this paper describes, a simple choice of appropriate optical and mount materials. The optical systems considered range from single lenses to high quality multielement imaging systems.