Recent progress in halide and chalcogenide glasses

Abstract

Halide and chalcogenide glasses which are superior to oxide glasses in transmitting light in the mid IR, allow optical operations in the 3–5 and 8–12 μm atmospheric optical windows. The specific family of fluoride glasses has been specially developed in order to achieve ultralow loss optical fibers and waveguiding in the 0.3 to 5 μm region. The extension of the IR transmission domain has been achieved with chalcogenide glasses and these traditional materials will be compared to a new class of IR glasses, the tellurium halides, TeX glasses, which transmit up to 20 μm and have high transparency in the 8–12 μm region.