Most of the raw material comes from China, Russia and USA being also important suppliers, quality material is available everywhere.

Edmund window

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

Visible window

Unfortunately Germanium is sensible to high temperature with degradation of its optical properties over 100°C. For high temperature Mid-IR (8-13µm) alternative we recommend using BaF2 (! much lower transmission after 11µm) or ZnSe.

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

It is also worth noting that germanium is relatively more brittle that silicon and therefore should be handle with care during machining.

Germanium glassproperties

Germanium optical components along with Silicon ones are made by precision optical suppliers usually focusing on IR applications. Due to high value of the material, specialization enables these companies less pressure on the stocks and lower risks of non-quality rejection.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

It has good transmission in the 8 to 14 µm range covering the thermal Infrared light, therefore it is a material of choice for thermal and night vision. It also shows a high refractive index which enable high open aperture angle optical component’s design.

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Interestingly, due to its similar crystal structure to Diamond can be coated with a DLC layer (Diamond Like Carbon) which on top of reducing the reflection on it’s surface, adds a diamond strong protective layer. Finally Germanium is not transparent in the visible which can be useful to focus on IR light.

Above value are generic specifications for fabrication, specific better value may be available and need to be reviewed case by case.

Germanium GlassPrice

Germanium famously known as predicted by Mendeleev before its actual discovery in the end 19th century, is widely used in optics as a component material for IR applications.  It has also interesting semi-conductor properties that we will not discuss into details in this guide.

Raw germanium have a relatively average transmission in the IR (less than 50%) but Anti-reflect or DLC treatments do improve a lot it’s transmittance.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Germanium glasslens

Ge is also interesting for its low optical dispersion and therefore very low chromatic dispersion in it’s transmission spectrum.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.