Optical fibers and molded optics in infrared transparent glass-ceramic

Optical fibers and molded optics have been formed by using the Ga5Sb10Ge25Se60 base glass with appropriate thermal treatment to generate microcrystals. The crystal growth during the fiber drawing and molding process induces additional scattering losses in the short wavelength region, but does not have a significant effect beyond 6 μm. The molded optics have very good dimensional precision and the form defect is less than 0.5 μm peak-to-valley, which is excellent particularly for optics designed for operating at 8–12 μm.