High-accuracy far-infrared glass lens technology

Achieving high flexibility in designing arsenic- and selenium-free chalcogenide glass

Earth- and user-friendly high-accuracy FIR glass lenses

In the fields of autonomous driving and surveillance　monitoring, it is necessary to solve the issue of sensing at night under low-light conditions. Far-infrared sensing is drawing attention as a possible solution. Many chalcogenide glass lenses, which are mainly used for high pixel grades of far-infrared cameras, contain arsenic and selenium, which are toxic substances. Having to remove these substances impacts processibility, so Konica Minolta has improved both materials and processing methods through collaboration with industry and academia, and can now produce lenses with greater design flexibility. For example, diffraction and free-form shapes can be formed on lens surfaces, and we offer far-infrared lenses that are Earth- and user-friendly by providing optical designs utilizing these features.

Technology Overview

The manufacture of chalcogenide glass lenses is divided into the processes of glass material melting, preform production, lens mold production, and lens molding using the mold. Konica Minolta has solved the issue of processibility by performing all of these processes in-house and by incorporating various means and ideas.

In addition to lens molding, Konica Minolta has technologies for optical design, including Fresnel and free curved surfaces, functional coating design and manufacture, such as AR and DLC, mechanical design for assembling lens units, and one-stop production up to assembly and adjustment. We can provide total solutions.