Germanium optical components
SINOPTIX supplies various optical components made of optical grade germanium. Germanium is the reference material for thermal spectrum optical components due to its good transmission on the 2-12µm range.
Germanium characteristics
GeO2 is mined as a residue from Pb & Zn mines, then refined and finally grown as a crystal in laboratories;
Germanium properties chart
| Property | Values |
|---|---|
| Denomination | Germanium |
| Chemical element | Ge (atomic number 32) |
| Type of chemical element | Metalloid |
| Color | Grayish |
| Index of Refraction | 4 |
| Transmission range | 1.8µm to 23µm |
| Density | 5.35 g/cm3 |
| Hardness | 800 Knoop (MOHS 6) |
| Young’s modulus | 75.79 GPa |
| Thermal expansion | 6.1*10-6 °K-1 |
| Thermal conductivity | 59 W/(m*°K) |
| Melting point | 1210 °K |
Please visit our complete guide on germanium optics to know more.
Germanium optical components capabilities
Manufacturing capabilities
| Properties | Values |
|---|---|
| Available dimensions | Diam 3 to D400mm (Diameters larger than 100mm are subject to raw material availability, contact-us before ordering) |
| Dimensional tolerances | +/-0.01mm |
| Thickness | 1-50mm |
| Surface quality | S&D : 60/40 normal quality; 40/20 high quality |
| Flatness | 1/2 lambda |
| Parallelism | better than 10″ |
| Coatings | AR / BBAR / DLC |
Germanium is relatively brittle it should be handled with care.
SINOPTIX germanium components references:
Available Ge components
We can propose below kinds of optical components :
- Germanium windows
- Germanium lenses
- Germanium aspheres
- Germanium prisms
- Germanium domes (up to D350mm)
- Germanium wafers
Aspheres and domes are manufactured by single point diamond turning (SPDT) with a surface accurary of 0.1mm and a surface roughness that can be less than 10nm.
Electromagnetic shielding of the components is possible as an option, with patterns of 5µm thickness.