Low Cost, Light Weight IR Optical Materials

Optical Alchemy has invested internal research and development resources to conceive and initially reduce to practice an approach to making moldable infrared optics based on using an engineered composite material. This material may be molded from relatively inexpensive materials with mass production processes such as injection molding and variants thereof. The technology for the optical element comprises a multi-part moldable material in which one part is selected to have a relatively low absorption of radiation in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Other parts are selected to have a relatively high transmissivity in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The combination of the parts results in optimized optical performance. An optical element comprised of this composite material can be formed to provide whatever surface contours are needed to achieve the desired optical properties.