SCHOTT North America Inc. (SCHOTT) yesterday said it is kicking off production of chalcogenide glasses for infrared (IR) sensing applications, produced for the first time in the United States.
To showcase the U.S. chalcogenide production, SCHOTT held an inaugural customer open house and simulcast live webinar, and other events at the Pa., facility, hosted by Marita Paasch, vice president of SCHOTT Advanced Optics (worldwide),. Heather Rayle, vice president and general manager of SCHOTT Advanced Optics at SCHOTT North America Inc., and Scott Custer, a retired U.S. Air Force major general, now head of SCHOTT Defense.
SCHOTT’s chalcogenide glass is ideal for defense 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 behavior 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 U.S. defense, security and commercial thermal imaging markets,” Rayle said.