FISBA – Precision molded IR lenses in chalcogenide glasses

30 Aug 2015

FISBA, a world-leading supplier of optical components manufactures precision molded infrared lenses in chalcogenide glasses. These products are used in the SWIR to LWIR range. The scalability of the manufacturing process and the resulting lower unit prices open up new possibilities for use in civil and defense applications.  

FISBA was one of the first optics manufacturers in Europe to enter the field of precision glass molding technology a few years ago. Today, the company is a leading worldwide specialist in this future-oriented field of optics and has extensive application-oriented experience in aspheres, cylinder optics and off-axis components for imaging systems and beam shaping. Building on this experience, FISBA has extended its expertise into lenses manufactured from chalcogenide glasses.

Advantages of chalcogenide glasses over germanium

Chalcogenide glasses have better properties than conventional germanium in many IR applications. Among these are good transparencies from SWIR to LWIR and better thermo-optic properties, such as a higher operating temperature range.

Ideal process for quantities from 100 pieces

For the manufacture of chalcogenide glass optical lenses, FISBA designs and produces cost-effective lenses in medium to large batches using precision molding processes. FISBA's specialties include centered and antireflective coated lenses, single- and double-sided aspherical lenses, up to 30 mm in size. Diffractive optical elements pressed directly onto the lens surface could possibly achieve necessary color correction and athermalization. FISBA offers innovative solutions from design to prototyping to series production all from the same supplier, and continues to do so over the whole lifecycle of a product.