Zinc Materials

Zinc Sulfide and Cleartran – made for VIS/IR useage

CVD Zinc Sulfide® is a robust optical material for windows, domes and other optical elements in the IR range. The high fracture strength and hardness of zinc sulfide allows it to be used in demanding environments.

Cleartran® is a converted form of CVD Zinc Sulfide®, which has been modified by applying a hot isostatic process. This process removes zinc hydrides from the crystal lattice, normalizes the crystal structure and purifies the material. This improves transmission in the VIS and IR range (from 0.35 to 14µm).

With low absorption and scattering, and high optical quality, Cleartran® is particularly suitable for multispectral applications.

 

Zinc Selenide – made for IR broadband spectral useage

CVD Zinc Selenide® is the preferred material for optical components in high energy density CO2 lasers due to its extremely low absorption at 10.6 µm.

Its high refractive index homogeneity and excellent optical quality enables its use in high-resolution FLIR thermal imaging cameras as well as laboratory applications such as thermometry and spectroscopy.

 

Tuftran – IR applications in harsh environmental conditions

Tuftran® infrared material consists of a polished ZnSe window over which a ZnS layer is chemically vapor deposited. This layer of ZnS protects the ZnSe window and enhances the material’s environmental durability making it better able to resist rain, dust, and dirt.

Tuftran® features the wide band (1-14 μm) imaging characteristics of zinc selenide and the mechanical robustness of zinc sulfide. The resulting material offers high hardness, excellent imaging characteristics, non-hygroscopicity, and ease of fabrication.