Structural, thermal, and optical tolerance analysis of SHARP, a near-infrared spectrograph for the next-generation telescope

The design and verification of cryogenic near-infrared spectrographs require rigorous multidisciplinary analyses to ensure optical performance under realistic operational conditions. In this work, we present a structural–thermal–optical performance (STOP) analysis of the SHARP instrument, a multi-mode spectrograph designed for use with upcoming multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems on extremely large telescopes (ELTs). Transient and steady-state thermal simulations were performed using Ansys to model the cooldown process and temperature distribution within the opto-mechanical structure. The resulting temperature fields were mapped to structural models through linear interpolation, enabling the evaluation of thermal stresses and deformations of optical elements. Optical sensitivity and tolerance analyses were carried out using Ansys Zemax OpticStudio, with Monte Carlo simulations applied to assess robustness against decenter, tilt, and despace errors. Results indicate that SHARP maintains RMS spot radius values within the acceptance threshold and that the inclusion of compensators significantly enhances compliance with the ensquared energy (EE) requirement across all channels. The analysis confirms that SHARP can achieve its optical performance goals while remaining within mechanical and thermal constraints, providing a validated framework for the development of next-generation cryogenic astronomical instrumentation.