Chalcogenide Glasses For Optics (In French)

Chalcogenide glasses appear as unrivalled materials for infrared applications. The critical point consists in determining the best composition with a synthesis set up that allows obtaining both weakest optical absorption together with some thermo-mechancial properties that make the final device easy to handle. Then the glasses enable to make lenses for night vision systems as well as transport or for remote temperature measurements in guiding the IR light towards a detector. The most exciting results have been obtained by using these IR glass Fibres for Evanescent Wave Spectroscopy (FEWS).