Monolithic mounting structures for robust optical systems through passive compensation of mechanical and thermal loads

Additive manufacturing is increasingly used for optical applications, especially for the production of the optical elements. However, larger elements usually require further post-processing steps of the optical surfaces and are not printable as monolithic multi-element systems. Nevertheless, optical systems can still benefit significantly by utilising the design freedom for the mounting structures. We designed a fully monolithic and additively manufactured mounting structure that is robust against mechanical and thermal influences from the environment and passively compensates their effects. We present our design approach and prove its feasibility by stressing an imaging lens and evaluating its optical performance.