Optical system structural and thermal jitter analysis using Ansys Zemax OpticStudio

Optical systems used in aerospace applications are often subject to random vibrations excited by internal and external forces; these range from engine vibrations in airborne systems to gravity and wind forces for ground-based systems. These random motions cause optical elements to shift position, thereby impacting their imaging performance and leading to lower image resolution or image registration errors. Vibration jitter analysis is a method by which such performance degradation can be quantified, and it guides the opto-mechanical design of the system. However, such jitter analysis can be very challenging, as it often incorporates data exchange among several commercial software packages or in-house codes. In this paper we proposed a multiphysics jitter analysis workflow to analyze jitter induced performance impact in optical system using the Ansys Zemax OpticStudio STAR Module and Ansys Mechanical. Ansys mechanical performs finite element analysis of the optical system under field condition. The structural and thermal information is then passed back to Zemax OpticStudio STAR module to analysis the optical performance degradation. Two main jitter impacts are considered: the slow jitter effects due to temperature gradients and the fast jitter effects due to random vibration. The insight gained from this analysis will help guide optical system packaging design to achieve better performance on the system level.