Optical materials used in optical fabrication of optical windows includes materials used for ultraviolet to the far infrared with a broad range of optical characteristics. These are in addition to the range of optical glasses including BK7 etc.

Optical materials, used in optical window manufacture, are listed below. Full data sheets on each material available on request.

Fused Silica

UV synthetic fused silica materials is used for UV transmission in the deep ultraviolet from around 160nm to 2000nm. Manufactured from silica materials produced by Hereaus “suprasil”, “Saint Gobain”, Spectrosil and Corning. Fused silica grades ranging from commercial to laser quality, fused silica windows polished to 200mm diameter.

Fused quartz

Fused quartz window materials are used for optical windows and transmits from 260nm to above 2000nm. Fused quartz types include vitrosil 055, Heraeus Herasil and GE 214. Drawn, rolled, polished plate, cored materials, commercial and precision grade windows are produced up to 24” diameter and 500mm sq.

(ir) infrared grade fused quartz a useful infrared material for 260nm to 3500nm, high temperature resistance with water content as low as 8ppm available in HS grade, Heraeus HOQ310 and infrasil materials.

Optical sapphire materials for random orientation or cut or axis is the ideal material for demanding application used for its extreme surface hardness with good IR transmission.

Optical silicon materials include optical, mirror and floatzone silicon in polycrystalline and moncrystaline materials. Silicon materials are produced using the Czochralski process for economically produced silicon 99.99% pure. Silicon has excellent IR transmission in the operating range 3 – 9 microns.

Other optical materials include:- Calcium fluoride (Caf2), magnesium fluoride (Mag2), lithium fluoride (LiF) germanium and zerodur.