Schott North America, Inc. has announced the availability of chalcogenide glasses for infrared (IR) sensing applications, ideal for defence and commercial security and sensing applications such as night vision and thermal imaging.
Following its announcement at the SPIE Optics & Photonics Show in August, Schott North America, Inc. has announced the availability of chalcogenide glasses for infrared (IR) sensing applications. This production kickoff marks the first time Schott will produce chalcogenide glass components in the US.
To showcase the US chalcogenide production, an inaugural customer open house and simulcast live webinar were held at the Schott Duryea facility. The first event of its kind for Schott, this was an opportunity for customers and experts to discuss this important material.
The event was hosted by Dr. Marita Paasch, Vice President of Schott Advanced Optics (worldwide), Dr. Heather Rayle, Vice President and General Manager of Schott Advanced Optics at Schott North America, Inc., and Scott Custer, Major General, US Air Force (Ret) and now head of Schott Defense.
Schott’s chalcogenide glass is ideal for defence and commercial security and sensing applications such as night vision and thermal imaging. It provides high transmission quality across a wide range of the IR spectrum, from the near-infrared (NIR) to long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) regions. Like many of Schott’s glass applications, chalcogenide glass has a broad transparency range and consistent optical behaviour over a wide temperature range, assuring it can withstand extreme environments without defocusing.
Adding the new chalcogenide glass line and fabrication technologies to the Duryea facility will provide customers with a family of IR glasses to meet customers’ specific requirements for their application. “Schott is pleased to be able to offer a high quality, domestically produced source of chalcogenide glass components to serve our customers in the US defence, security and commercial thermal imaging markets,” said Heather Rayle, vice-president and general manager for the North American Advanced Optics business.