Introducing GASIR®
Innovative technologies,
smart optics
Umicore's GASIR® chalcogenide glass is an ideal material for both high-performance infrared imaging systems and high-volume commercial applications. GASIR® can be finished with traditional manufacturing technologies as well as by molding. Coated GASIR® has a wider transmission spectrum than germanium, and GASIR® blanks are more cost-effective and more stably priced than germanium blanks.
Umicore offers two materials, GASIR®1 and GASIR®5. Both are available as blank materials, finished lenses or in off-the-shelf infrared lenses.
GASIR® - Optics for the Future
Our unique molding process allows us to manufacture finished asphero-diffractive lens geometry in medium to large volume production runs with a very competitive price-performance ratio. For low to medium volume needs GASIR® can be manufactured with polishing or diamond turning.
Compared to germanium, the traditional infrared material, GASIR® offers a wider transmission spectrum and much better athermalization possibilities .
GASIR®'s key advantages are:
- Cost-effective material for blanks, preforms and finished optics
- Wider spectral range than germanium. GASIR® is transparent from 0.8 µm up to 16 µm
- 8 times lower change of refractive index with temperature than germanium, allowing simple athermalized design
- Molding process allowing for high volume, cost effective optics
| Germanium | ZnS | ZnSe | GASIR®1 | GASIR®5 | |
| Transmission domain | 1.8 - 16µm | 2 - 12 µm | 0.5 - 22 µm | 0.8 - 16 µm | 0.8 - 16 µm |
| Refractive index (@10µm) | 4.00 | 2.20 | 2.20 | 2.49 | 2.78 |
| Abbe number (8 - 12 µm) | 942 | 23 | 58 | 120 | 160 |
| dn/dT at 10 µm (10-6) | 396 | 41 | 61 | 55 | 32 |
| Absorption coefficeint (10-3cm-1) | 27 | 200 | 0.5 | 30 | 10 |
| Specific weight (g/cm³) | 5.32 | 4.08 | 5.27 | 4.40 | 4.62 |
| Upper use temperature | 70°C | - | - | 240°C | 155°C |
| Datasheet | Datasheet |
Potential applications for GASIR® include:
- Automotive
- Thermal imaging & Thermography
- Firefighting
- Marine
- Security and Surveillance
- Medical Imaging and Diagnostics
- Smart Sensing & IoT