Patent ID: 7299859

Claim:
A temperature regulated optical apparatus comprising a temperature-sensitive optical component, a power dissipating optical component on the same substrate as the temperature-sensitive optical component, said substrate thermally insulated from an external environment, except for a variable resistance heat transfer component for conducting heat away from said substrate, a heat-conductive interface component to exchange thermal energy with the external environment, and said variable resistance heat transfer component including a flexible curved heat pipe having a length to diameter aspect ratio that is much greater than one so that the substrate is physically well-separated from said heat-conductive interface component so as to provide an elastic mechanical linkage between said substrate and said heat-conductive interface component to minimize strain or vibrations to the optical components on said substrate, said heat transfer component for maintaining the temperature of said substrate so that when the substrate temperature is above a predetermined value the conductance of said heat transfer component is increased to increase the transfer of heat between said substrate and said heat-conductive interface component and when the substrate temperature is below the predetermined value the conductance of said heat transfer component is decreased to retain the heat in said substrate with low heat leakage to the external environment, wherein in this manner said heat transfer component maintains the temperature-sensitive optical component at a constant temperature.