Patent ID: 6948864

Claim:
An optoelectronic component, comprising a housing, an optoelectronic device, a thermoelectric device, and a heat sink for dissipating heat from the component, the optoelectronic device and thermoelectric device being mounted within the housing and the thermoelectric device being thermally bound to the optoelectronic device, wherein the thermoelectric device is operable in both a heating and a cooling mode in order to stabilise the operating temperature of the optoelectronic device, and the component includes a variable thermal link, said link being disposed between the thermoelectric device and the heat sink and said link being operable to control a variable thermal coupling between the thermoelectric device and the heat sink, such that the thermal coupling is reduced when the thermoelectric device is used to stabilise the operating temperature of the optoelectronic device by heating the optoelectronic device and relatively increased when the thermoelectric device is used to stabilise the operating temperature of the optoelectronic device by cooling the optoelectronic device, wherein the variable thermal link includes at least one movable feature which moves between a first position in which the thermoelectric device is relatively thermally isolated from the heat sink to a second position in which the thermoelectric device is relatively thermally connected to the heat sink.