Abstract

Chaclogenide glass constitute a unique class of materials that combine both excellent rheological properties for shaping and fiber drawing and extended infrared transparency up to 25 microns [1]. In fact they constitute the only class of amorphous materials with transparency through the mid-IR. Their base constituent atoms are S, Se and Te combined with neighboring elements such as Ge, As, Sb, Ga or I. Due to the heavy mass of these constituent elements the frequency of the multiphonon cut-off can be pushed far into the mid-IR. As depicted in the figure below, the width of the optical window is directly dependent on the mass of the relative constituents with oxide glasses typically cutting near 5 microns while sulfide can extend to 12 microns, selenide to 19 microns and telluride all the way down to 25 microns.

© 2014 Optical Society of America