Coherent Introduces Infrared Wire-Grid Polarizers With Industry-Breakthrough Performance for Atmospheric Remote Sensing

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Coherent Corp. (NYSE: COHR), a leader in diffractive optics, today announced the introduction of a family of mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) wire-grid polarizers (WGPs) with industry-breakthrough performance for laser-based atmospheric remote sensing applications.

Laser-based metrology such as for greenhouse gas monitoring is driving the demand for high-performance optics to improve measurement sensitivity. Coherent introduced a new family of infrared WGPs operating in the MWIR over 3-5 µm and the LWIR over 7-14 µm, based on meta‑optics wire technology that achieves a contrast ratio of an order of magnitude greater than the highest-performing comparable products in the industry. The meta‑optics wires of the WGPs are nanopatterned with non-oxidizing materials, which significantly increases their reliability compared with existing wire-grid polarizers made from aluminum, copper, or silver materials.

“Our new family of infrared WGPs leverages our materials expertise in infrared optics and our decades of development in meta-optics and nanopatterning,” said Steve Rummel, Senior Vice President, Engineered Materials and Laser Optics Business Unit. “The WGPs designed for LWIR applications leverage our low-absorption dielectric thin films on zinc selenide substrates that are grown, polished, coated, and nanopatterned in-house.”

Coherent’s broad portfolio of components for laser-based remote sensing also includes optical isolators, collimators, beam expanders, and galvo mirrors. The MWIR polarizers are available now, and the LWIR polarizers will be generally available in the third quarter of calendar 2024.

Coherent leverages its diffractive optics technology platform for a wide range of products and applications, including state-of-the-art diffractive optical elements (DOEs) for beam shaping in high-power laser processing, as well as volume Bragg gratings and diffraction gratings with applications in communications and medicine. Coherent also offers wafer-scale all-glass DOEs based on metasurfaces, or meta-optics elements (MOEs), that are ideal for large-volume applications such as in consumer electronics.

Coherent will showcase its broad range of products and innovations for sensing at Photonics West 2024 in San Francisco, Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, Booth #4805.