Development of far-infrared-transmitting Te based glasses suitable for carbon dioxide detection and space optics

A new family of far-infrared-transmitting tellurides based glasses suitable for carbon dioxide detection and space optics and therefore enable the development of a new generation of infrared systems were developed. The metallic nature of Te was reduced by incorporating Te-Ge and Te-Ga bonds, which localized electrons in glassy network. The results show that the addition of I in the glassy network stabilizes the glass by acting as a non-bridging modifier and an addition of the tertavalent element Ge superior to 20% leads to rapid crystallization. It is also shown that the transmission of the GT17 glass extends far in the IR with a cut off beyond 20μm while the GS17 glass become opaque in the 15μm region. Glasses GT1 and GTT are shown to satisfy the spectral requirements of the telescopes used in space optics.