Development of integrated software for STOP analysis

A STOP analysis refers to a multidisciplinary investigation of optical systems comprising thorough Structural (mechanical), Thermal and Optical Performance evaluations. It is an indispensable step in the development of optical instruments operating under variable and often harsh environmental conditions as encountered in aerospace, defense, and high-power laser applications.STOP analysis requires coupling several physics domains, such as structural mechanics, heat transfer, and ray optics, as well as accounting for the system's material properties and boundary conditions. A key challenge lies thus in the seamless bi-directional data exchange between optical and FEM-based multiphysics software tools, because both domains influence each other in a non-linear way.Two innovative European SMEs, Open Engineering (Belgium) and Hembach Photonik (Germany), supported by the European Space Agency ESA, are developing an integrated European software tool for STOP analysis, which builds upon their existing software tools OOFELIE::Multiphysics and RayJack ONE.This lecture addresses the project's challenges, showcases application examples, and outlines the development roadmap.