Fluoride crystal, typically exemplified by fluorite, must be grown in a vacuum ambient atmosphere with a high temperature of 1,000°C or higher, requiring advanced devices as well as high processing technology. Canon Optron succeeded in mass production of fluorite in 1968. Since then, the company has offered a wide range of optical crystal materials by leveraging its advanced technologies, developed over many years, for high-temperature vacuum and temperature control.
These optical crystal materials demonstrate the optical properties that are not found in conventional optical glass, and thus are widely used in optical devices such as telephoto lenses as well as analyzers, helping dramatically increasing the potential of optical equipment. It has been considered that it is extremely difficult to precisely process the surface of fluorite crystal. However, through its own research and development efforts, Canon Optron has succeeded in implementing the world's highest-level technology for precise surface finishing of optical crystal.

Fluorite has a wide range of transmitted wavelength, and, in addition, has a low refractive index and a low dispersion rate as its properties. Because of these characteristics, fluorite is used in various products, ranging from a super achromatized (apochromat) telephoto lens that completely eliminates the secondary color aberration to a zoom lens, television camera, and astronomical telescope.

Barium fluoride has a very wide range of transmitted wavelength in the infrared region, actually up to a 13μm wavelength which is the longest among fluorite crystals. Due to this feature, barium fluorite is used in analytical devices that use infrared radiation, and as materials for high output infrared laser products.

Magnesium fluoride has a wide range of transmitted wavelength in the ultraviolet region, which is wider than that of fluorite. In addition, it is excellent in mechanical strength. It is not suited to use for lenses because of its birefringence properties, but is widely used as materials for various types of windows and as optical materials for devices such as linear polariscopes that operate in the ultraviolet wavelength range.

Note: Please contact us for information on the processing of special shapes and materials other than described above.