The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has an optical prescription which employs three triplet lens cells. The instrument will operate at 35K after experiencing launch loads at ~293K and the optic mounts must accommodate all associated thermal and mechanical stresses, plus maintain an exceptional wavefront during operation. The Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LMATC) has built and tested the collimator and camera optics for use on the NIRCam flight instrument. This paper presents an overview of the driving requirements, a brief overview of the changes in the opto-mechanical design and analysis since our last presentation, a discussion of the collimator and shortwave camera triplet assembly processes, and finally a summary of the mechanical and optical test results.

Date Published: 28 September 2011
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 8150, Cryogenic Optical Systems and Instruments XIII, 81500F (28 September 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.896459

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8150:
Cryogenic Optical Systems and Instruments XIII
James B. Heaney; E. Todd Kvamme, Editor(s)