Panasonic has developed a new method for molding lens that it claims will improve the performance of far-infrared cameras. In addition, the company even claims that it has halved the production cost of lenses with this new method which uses chalcogenide glass.

New Far-infrared camera lens from Panasonic

As mentioned earlier, Panasonic is using Chalcogenide glass which it says has excellent transmission characteristics in the far-infrared. This new technique allows the company to manufacture a wide range of lenses, including the world’s first highly hermetic frame-integrated lens without adhesive. Panasonic believes its latest breakthrough in glass molding technique will help promote the use of far-infrared sensors/lenses in different fields. These are used to monitor and detect heat/objects in energy management systems and security cameras. In addition, far-infrared sensors are also seeing increased usage in self-driving autonomous vehicles, where they help detect distant people and objects at night.

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In the present context, far-infrared sensors use low-cost silicon as the lens material. Panasonic notes that the material is not ideal when pushing for higher pixel counts because of its low transmittance. To avoid this, manufacturers use germanium spherical lenses. But then they have to address the increased aberration, which requires the use of complex combinations of different lenses. All this adds to the size and manufacturing cost of the lenses. By contrast, Panasonic’s latest far-infrared lens modules boast higher performance, low cost, and are ready for mass production.

Advantages

The new glass molding technique announced by Panasonic does not use any adhesive. As a result, it significantly reduces the risk of gas contamination. Likewise, it also protects the edge of the lens while also improving the accuracy during the installation of the lens on the barrel.

• Applicable for aspherical and diffractive lenses of varying size
• Frame-integrated lenses without gas contamination
• Enhanced performance of sensors

The company has already started the production of new far-infrared aspherical lenses with this technique at the Yagamata Factory. Panasonic is also taking prototype orders.

• Meanwhile, check out our unboxing and first impressions of the Redmi Note 11.