- About us
- Germanium
- Germanium Granules
- Germanium Optics
- Germanium Dioxide (GeO2)
- Polycrystalline Germanium (GPZ)
- Silicon
- Zinc Selenide (ZnSe)
- Zinc Sulfide (ZnS)
- Fluorides
- Recycling
- Contact us
We manufacture finished components for thermal imaging cameras, night vision optics, and other devices.
Nighthawk Solutions is proud to provide the highest-quality infrared optical materials and substrates to our valuable customers in the commercial, aerospace, defense, and semiconductor industry. Our main products include, but are not limited to, germanium, silicon, zinc selenide (ZnSe), zinc sulfide (ZnS), calcium fluoride (CaF2), barium fluoride (BaF2), and sapphire windows, mirrors, lenses, prisms and substrates.
We support our partners in the effort to make business more sustainable and cost-effective. Nighthawk Solutions stands for responsible, lean, and effective production. We encourage you to contact us with any questions and concerns about recycling germanium and other rare metals.
Germanium is widely used in infrared optics, fiber optics, semiconductors, and solar applications. It is considered a strategic material for many military and commercial applications.
Germanium (Ge) is mainly used in 3 applications:
1. Fiber Optics
2. Infrared Optics
3. PET Synthesis Catalyst
Fiber Optics:
— In the form of GeCl4, GeO2 is deposited into the core of the fiber.
— GeO2 has a high refractive index and a low optical dispersion.
Infrared Optics:
— May be incorporated into lenses and or windows.
— It may be installed into Thermal Imaging Cameras as well as Hot-Spot Detection Devices.
— Night Vision Applications.
Additional Applications of Infrared Optics:
1. Infrared Longpass Filters - ideal for isolating broad spectral regions
2. Infrared Neutral Density (ND) Filters - spectrally flat from 2µm to 14µm
3. Infrared Wire Grid Polarizers - designed for 2-30 µm
PET synthesis Catalyst:
— GeO2 is used as a catalyst for the synthesis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used to make bottles.
Additional Benefits of Germanium:
— Used in electronic devices such as LEDs.
— Germanium wafer substrate are used for high-efficiency multijunction photovoltaic cells for space applications.
— High-brightness LEDs, automobile headlights, and to backlight LCD screens.
Our list of products includes, but is not limited to, the following items:
— Optical elements of various shapes and configurations (windows, lenses, prisms) per individual specification
— Germanium dioxide (GeO2) - up to 99.9999%
— Polycrystalline germanium (GPZ) - up to 99.9999%
— Germanium granules - up to 99.999%.
Germanium granules are primarily used for evaporation and deposition coating processes, where high-tech applications are regularly sensitive to pureness and quality.
Nighthawk Solutions is able to provide 99.9999% pure germanium granules with low oxygen content conforming to the most demanding requirements.
In 2-14 μm range infrared optical systems, germanium is the most widely used material for making lenses and windows.
Germanium Infrared Optics:
— May be incorporated into lenses and windows.
— It may be installed into Thermal Imaging Cameras as well as Hot-Spot Detection Devices.
— Night Vision Applications.
Additional Applications of Infrared Optics:
— Infrared Longpass Filters - ideal for isolating broad spectral regions
— Infrared Neutral Density (ND) Filters - spectrally flat from 2 µm to 14 µm
— Infrared Wire Grid Polarizers - designed for 2-30 µm
Nighthawk Solutions offers a wide range of germanium optical elements per customers’ specifications: windows, wafers, prisms, and lenses. All the optics are available, both raw and finished as per request.
The refractive index and optical dispersion properties of germanium dioxide make it useful as an optical material for wide-angle lenses, in optical microscope objective lenses, and for the core of fiber-optic lines.
Germanium dioxide is also used in catalysts for polymerization in the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - the raw material for healthy plastic bottles.
— In the form of GeCl4, GeO2 is deposited into the core of the fiber.
— GeO2 has a high refractive index and a low optical dispersion.
Polycrystalline germanium is mainly used as a raw material in the single crystal growing process. Insofar as the quality of monocrystalline germanium depends principally on the technology and source material, high-quality GPZ is considered essential for the pulling process.
Nighthawk Solutions offers 99.9999% polycrystalline germanium suitable for growing.
Commonly, silicon is considered the material of choice for systems operating in the Middle Infrared (MIR) Range, from 3 to 5 µm. But in fact, the material may be used to a much broader extent — from 1.2 to 15 µm or even higher.
Due to its high absorption at a wavelength of 9 µm, optical silicon is not used in CO2 lasers as transmitting optics, but is widely used for the production of mirrors.
Nighthawk Solutions offers silicon windows, mirrors, witness samples, and lenses.
Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) is widely used in CO2 laser components, infrared spectroscopy, imaging systems, IR pyrometers, surveillance, and detection systems.
Zinc Selenide is transparent in a wide spectral range from visible to far-infrared. ZnSe material is a chemically inert, non-hygroscopic, and high-pure product that is very effective in many optical applications due to its extremely low bulk losses, high resistance to thermal shock, and stability in virtually all environments.
Zinc Selenide is commonly used in the following areas:
1. Light-emitting diodes and diode lasers.
2. Infrared Optics.
3. X-ray and gamma ray detectors.
Diodes and lasers:
— Zinc Selenide emits blue light when used to form light-emitting diodes. ZnSe can be applied as an infrared laser gain medium emitting at 2.4 µm.
— ZnSe Optics is a main instrument in laser beam delivery systems.
— Free of absorption and inclusions, it is ideally suited for CO2 laser optics at 10.6 µm wavelength.
Infrared Optics:
— It has a remarkably wide transmission wavelength range, from 0.45 µm to 21.5 µm.
— Its refractive index is about 2.67 @ 550 nm (green), and about 2.40 @ 10.6 µm (LWIR).
— In healthcare, it can be found as the entrance optic in the non-contact clinical thermometers.
— In spectroscopy.
X-ray and gamma ray detectors:
— It is a scintillator with emission peak at 640 nm, suitable for matching with photodiodes.
Nighthawk Solutions is able to provide windows, lenses, prisms and custom-made ZnSe optics.
Zinc Sulfide (ZnS) is primarily utilized in four uses:
— Infrared optics.
— Lasers.
— Luminescent Material.
— Nanotechnology.
Infrared Optics:
— Zinc Sulfide (ZnS) is used in high-speed optical systems designed for the Air Force. It helps to detect and destroy low-temperature targets: radomes of self-targeting missiles, guided missiles, and bombs, laser location systems.
— As a wide-range optical material, transmitting from infrared to visible wavelengths. The greatest transparency is provided for radiation with a wavelength of 8 to 14 µm, Middle Wavelength Infrared Range (MWIR). ZnS can be used planar as an optical window or shaped into a lens, as well as other optical systems operating both in the visible and infrared (3-5 µm and 8-12 µm) spectrum.
— It can be produced in yellow, opaque form, and through HIPed be converted to a water-clear form.
Lasers:
Zinc Sulfide of the sphalerite type is a semiconductor material with a band gap of 3.54-3.91 eV, used in laser technology.
Luminescent Material:
It is used as a luminescent material, for X-ray tubes, for luminous boards, panels, and oscillography tubes.
Nanotechnology:
Zinc Sulfide nanostructures are used in medicine, optoelectronics, lasers, QD-LED displays, etc.
Nighthawk Solutions is able to provide large optical elements made of high purity zinc sulfide by chemical vapor deposition.
Fluorides are an excellent option for multispectral applications with a great transmittance through the spectrum. They work from MWIR to visible light and even UV range.
Fluorides find their use:
— In imaging systems to reduce chromatic aberration.
— IR spectroscopy and thermography.
— As scintillator material.
— In astronomy.
— UV applications and lasers.
Additional advantages:
— Can be used without thin film coatings.
— Provide excellent optical properties at a low price.
— High transmission through the range.
Nighthawk Solutions offers BaF2, CaF2, LiF, and MgF2 in the form of windows, prisms, and lenses. Fluoride optical components are manufactured according to customers' specifications and available for urgent orders.
Germanium’s abundance in the Earth’s crust is approximately 1.6 ppm. Only a few minerals like argyrodite, briartite, germanite, and renierite contain appreciable amounts of germanium, but none are in mineable deposits. Germanium seldom appears in high concentrations. It is mainly a byproduct of zinc ore processing.
The importance of recycled germanium recovered from end-of-life products, such as fiber optics, military vehicles, and solar cells, should not be underestimated. Recycling is expected to increase during the next two decades as aging products are taken out of service.
Worldwide, about 30% of the total germanium consumed is produced from recycled materials.
Nighthawk Solutions asks you to consider recycling your germanium refuse items, broken optics, technology wastes, and liquids. We work with germanium as low as 2% content solutions and compounds to give a second life to germanium products.
You are welcome to contact us with any requests and concerns related to the recycling of germanium.
We sincerely appreciate any feedback and invite you to exchange your ideas with us!