IR GRIN lenses prepared by ionic exchange in chalcohalide glasses

In order to decrease the number of lenses and the weight of thermal imaging devices, specific optical design are required by using gradient refractive index (GRIN) elements transparent in the infrared waveband. While widely used for making visible GRIN lenses with silicate glasses, the ion exchange process is very limited when applied to chalcogenide glasses due to their low Tg and relatively weak mechanical properties. In this paper, we develop chalco-halide glasses based on alkali halide (NaI) addition in a highly covalent GeSe2–Ga2Se3 matrix, efficient for tailoring a significant and permanent change of refractive by ion exchange process between K+ and Na+. Optical and structural properties of the glass samples were measured showing a diffusion length reaching more than 2 mm and a Gaussian gradient of refractive index Δn of 4.5.10–2. The obtained GRIN lenses maintain an excellent transmission in the second (3–5 µm) and third (8–12 µm) atmospheric windows.

The effect of adding CsCl content on physicochemical properties of (GeS2–Sb2S3)100-x(CsCl)x (0 ≤ x ≤ 40 mol%) chalcohalide glasses

The physico-chemical properties of (GeS2–Sb2S3)100-x(CsCl)x (0 ≤ x ≤ 40 mol%) chalcohalide glasses were theoretically studied. The band gap (Eg) of the studied glass system was estimated and was found to increase by adding the CsCl content. Furthermore, the positions of the valence band and conduction band edges was determined. The results reveal that the molar volume (Vm) of the studied samples increased while the density (ρ) and the number of atoms per unit volume (N) decreased with increasing the CsCl content. The overall coordination number (CN), constraints number (Ns) and overall mean bond energy (<E>) were computed using the chemical bond approach and were found to decrease. In contrast, the number of lone-pair electrons (LP) and cohesive energy (CE) increased. Finally, the glass-transition temperature (Tg) was also estimated based on the overall mean bond energy, and was found to decrease with increasing the CsCl content.