VIMFUN / KNOWLEDGE CENTER
Optical Manufacturing Knowledge Center
Practical guides to optical cutting, grinding, polishing and inspection—from material selection to process troubleshooting.
- Process Technology
Germanium hit $8,500 per kilogram in mid-2026. That’s more than double the price two years ago. At that rate, every tenth of a millimeter of germanium lens kerf
- levy
- Process Technology
After cutting and centering, a germanium blank is flat — a disc with parallel surfaces, correct diameter, and clean edges. But a flat disc is not a lens.
- levy
- Process Technology
Ra 5 nm is not an exotic number for germanium. It is a class of finish that established polishing chemistry reaches routinely — and that a badly controlled
- levy
- Process Technology
After wire saw slicing, a germanium blank has two problems: the surfaces aren’t flat enough, and they aren’t parallel enough. Wire cutting delivers Ra 0.6–1.2 μm surface roughness
- Daria
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