Simulated and experimental study on temperature induced lens focal shifts

Optical lenses used in high temperature environment are usually affected by thermal lenses problems, but it is difficult to evaluate their focal shifts in practical applications. A three-dimensional single-lens model based on finite element solver was built to evaluate the focal shift in this study, when the temperature of surface was raised from the initial temperature to the specified temperature. An experimental method based on a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor was proposed to verify the rationality of the model. The nearly same results between simulations and experiments for N-BK7 and fused silica were obtained, which proves that it is feasible to analyze focal shifts of optical lenses by simulation methods.