Anti-corrosion LaO3/2-GaO3/2-ZrO2 infrared glasses with high refractive index and low dispersion prepared by aerodynamic levitation

Abstract LaO3/2-GaO3/2-ZrO2 ternary glasses have been prepared by aerodynamic levitation technique. The highest refractive index of glass system is 1.976 and the Abbe number of glass system reaches 49.9 for 30LaO3/2-62.5GaO3/2-7.5ZrO2 glass. Glasses have high transmittance of over 80% from ultraviolet light to the middle infrared light region. The maximum of infrared cutoff wavelength reaches to 10.6 μm. After ZrO2 doping, the acid corrosion resistance of glass is increased and the hardness of glass is improved from 7.14 GPa to 7.72 GPa ZrO2 adding increases the transforming temperature and crystallization temperature of glasses and improves the thermal stability of the glasses. The proper amount of ZrO2 doping improves the corrosion resistance, hardness, thermal and optical properties of the glass at the same time, which indicates that LaO3/2-GaO3/2-ZrO2 ternary glasses may have the potential to be used in a variety of endoscopes, especially those that need to be used in harsh environments.