Battlefield-Ready Infrared Windows for Night Vision/Heat Detection

<<BACK TO PRODUCTS
<<INFRARED COATINGS
<<CLEAR CONDUCTIVE COATINGS

< Battlefield-Ready Infrared Windows
..for Night Vision/Heat Detection
• Ultra-High Sensitivity Low Signal Amplifiers

Description
On-board laser guidance and night-vision/heat detection
devices for military and space-based vehicles require infrared
(IR) transmissive windows for target imaging. These windows
are typically constructed from single crystal germanium (Ge) polished to a mirror finish and coated to reduce reflection of IR from the front and back surfaces. These windows can vary from flat to dome shaped. The back surface of the Ge window is typically coated with a high performance anti-reflective (AR) multilayer coating.

The outside surface of many IR windows is exposed to the
environment which can be harsh in any outer-space or
battlefield scenario. Without an AR coating more than 50%
of the IR light is reflected away. Genvac has the proprietary capability to coat this surface with a hard carbon coating known as diamondlike carbon (DLC). It is a perfect index match (AR
coating) to Ge and is regarded as the most anti-abrasive optical coating in existence. DLC is capable of withstanding a sandstorm- like environment, is chemically inert, and impervious to salt penetration. An IR window with DLC and AR coatings applied to the respective surfaces described above will have greater than 90% transmission at a specified wavelength, i.e,. it will appear as an "open window" to a laser guidance or night-vision device.

Genvac Aerospace Technology -
Diamondlike Carbon (DLC) Coated
Germanium Windows

Genvac Aerospace has developed a
proprietary DLC multilayer coating with
IR transmission equal to or greater than
any competitive coating used in military
and aerospace applications with the
added benefit of superior adhesion to Ge.
Delamination or erosion, the most common
reason DLC coatings fail, has been
eliminated with our product. This coating
has been applied to IR windows and
installed on Marine Corp. Amphibious
Assault Vehicles for image detection
using a night vision device. The Marine
Corp. window was originally coated with
DLC by a major manufacturer of vehicles
for commercial and military purposes.
This coating delaminated in the field. The Genvac Aerospace coating was determined to be superior.

Genvac Aerospace is capable of producing Long Wave IR windows in any geometry ranging from flat to spherical.The company has recently produced DLC coated Ge hemispherical windows for forward looking infrared systems on US military platforms including the Apache AH-64 helicopter.

Since 2003 Genvac has developed custom infrared coatings from the near infrared to the very far infrared (beyond 30 microns). These coatings have been designed for use with numerous infrared transmissive materials including Ge, Si, ZnS, ZnSe, AMTIR and most recently GASIR.

Genvac welcomes the opportunity to develop very specialized infrared coatings, including dual-band, multi-band and visible/infrared band coatings.