Optical system of the solar simulator

As precision optical components manufacturer, CLZ optics introduction Optical system of the solar simulator.

The solar simulator is test equipment that can simulate the characteristics of real solar radiation. Its optical system has the characteristics of high irradiance, high collimation, high stability, and high radiation uniformity. It is widely used in the photovoltaic field, environmental simulation field, meteorological instrument calibration, agricultural breeding field and space sensitive period calibration field.

The optical system of the solar simulator is mainly composed of a light source (xenon arc lamp), a combined condenser system (a combination of an ellipsoidal mirror and a spherical mirror), an optical integrator, a plane reflector, and a collimating objective.

1. Combined condenser system

The combined condensing system using an ellipsoidal mirror and a spherical mirror can greatly improve the energy utilization rate of the entire system, which is nearly double the efficiency of using a single ellipsoidal mirror.

2. Optical integrator group

The optical integrator is an optical device derived from the Kohler illumination principle, which achieves the requirement of higher uniformity of the illumination system.

The Kohler illumination system consists of two lenses and two diaphragms. The front lens is also called the Kohler lens, which is close to the diaphragm 1, the rear lens is also called the imaging objective. And the diaphragm 2 is located on the focal plane of the rear lens.

Kohler Illumination provides a uniform illumination method that reduces the influence of the shape, size and field of view of the light source on the uniformity of the irradiated surface. At the same time, by effectively controlling the two diaphragms, the effect of stray light can be reduced and the illumination contrast can be improved. It is also widely used in optical microscope illumination.

3. Collimation objective

The beam emitted by the integrator needs to be collimated by a collimator to produce a parallel beam. And the aperture of the objective lens also determines the irradiation area. Because the optical system has a small field of view, the off-axis aberration can be ignored, only the on-axis spherical aberration and positional chromatic aberration have to be corrected. Considering the influence of temperature on the cemented lens group, a double-separated positive and negative lens combination is selected to correct the image difference. Due to the large aperture of the optical system, the spherical aberration, positional chromatic aberration and sine aberration have a greater impact on the alignment. The use of a combination of positive and negative lenses can well correct the axial spherical aberration and through the Abbe number of optical glass materials to correct the chromatic aberration.

4. Steering plane mirror

Since the Xenon lamp needs to be placed vertically and ignited, a flat mirror is needed for the reflex of light path. It also solves the difficulty of assembly and adjustment caused by the excessively long optical system.

CLZ Precision Optics Co., Ltd. specializes in processing and producing optical lenses and optical mirrors for solar simulators. At the same time, we also produce optical domes, optical filters and optical prisms. Looking forward to your inquiry, please contact talia@clzoptics.com.