For decades, chalcogenide infrared (IR) glasses (chalcogenides) were considered “exotics.” For the rather-small number of applications that relied on IR wavelengths, other IR materials performed well. As a result, demand for chalcogenides was quite limited. Low demand for the material restricted producers to small businesses that had a hard time providing detailed technical descriptions of their products or reproducible, consistent results. The result was a self-fulfilling prophecy: low demand meant low availability of material, and thus a reluctance on the part of optical designers and product researchers to experiment or explore chalcogenides as a material solution to new products.

New demand for and increased availability of high-quality infrared glasses enable optical designs that are smaller, lighter, and do not require internal cooling systems. Ikense company could provide high quanlity chalcogenide glasses and infrared lenses from Mar 3th, 2020.

An emerging set of potential applications, along with increased interest in IR designs that are smaller, lighter, and do not require relatively expensive internal cooling systems, has created a new interest in chalcogenide glasses. In turn, there is new demand, increased availability of high-quality materials, and more-thorough technical descriptions of chalcogenide glasses.