Photonic Sourcing

Barium Fluoride transmission above 90% from 0.25µm to 9.5µm. Barium Fluoride has lower thermal-shock resistance and hardness than calcium fluoride but offers the highest resistance to high energy radiation compared to other IR materials and is used in laser systems in addition to thermal imaging.

Barium Fluoride lenses and windows are utilized in Thermography, high-energy experiments and infrared spectrometry – particularly in fuel oil analysis.

Knight Optical supplies Barium Fluoride as blanks, windows and spherical lenses:

Diameter: 1 – 400mm

Thickness: 0.5 – 20mm

Tolerances: ±0.1mm

Surface Quality: 20/10 Scratch/Dig

Flatness: λ/8

Parallelism: 20”

Centration: 10”

Applications for Barium Fluoride:

• Infrared Spectroscopy
• Thermography
• Cryogenically cooled Thermal Imaging

Infrared Spectroscopy:

Infrared Spectroscopy is used to identify and study the composition of chemicals and materials, in devices such as FTIR spectrometer, spectrophotometers and medical analysers.

Thermography:

Thermography is a type of thermal imaging which the IR radiation is displayed as a thermogram, an image which shows the contrast in temperature of the subject. Due to the nature of the imaging, the images can be made without the use of illumination - as it is the radiation emitted by objects that is captured. The imaging method shows the heat of a person against an otherwise cold background, making it perfect for defence and security purposes, as humans are easily identifyable using the imaging systems day or night. In recent years thermography has been used in the identification of swine flu sufferers in airports, where the increased temperature of sufferers was isolated by the thermographic cameras. The cameras are also used in applications where heat sources need to be identified, such as in firefighting or in military applications.

Cryogenically cooled Thermal Imaging:

Cooling is sometimes required for cameras where a semiconuctor material is used. the camera system is cooled from anywhere between 4 Kelvin to just below 20 degrees C. The cooing is required so that the heat from the camera system itslef does not interfere with the image it is trying to capture.

Contact our technical sales team to discuss your requirements for infrared materials including Barium Fluoride.