Cryogenic optical characteristics of S-FPL51 and S-LAH71: refractive index, transmission and thermal expansion

Several near-infrared instruments on upcoming extremely large telescopes use a combination of OHARA S-FPL51 and S-LAH71 glass prisms to correct for the atmospheric differential refraction. Because large parts of these instruments are contained within a vessel cooled to liquid nitrogen temperatures, the changes in optical and mechanical properties should be considered during the design phase. <br/> <br clear="all"/> In this report, we provide an update to our continuing efforts to characterize the S-FPL51 and S-LAH71 glass under cryogenic conditions. These efforts include a measurement of the refractive index (293 K, 100 K and 80 K), transmission measurements (293 K, 77 K and 43 K) and a determination of the coefficient of thermal expansion (between 293 K and 45 K). We will describe the cryogenic test setups that we have used to obtain our results, and provide summarizing equations of these material properties. <br/> <br clear="all"/> This characterization will prove useful for conceptual design trade-offs, mechanical interface solutions and detailed optical design for future near-infrared instrumentation on large telescopes.