Defense Grant Supports Infrared Window Research
Typically, IR windows are made from single-crystal ceramics that have no grains or grain boundaries. However, these are inherently difficult to form into complex shapes, and they are prohibitively expensive. Also, although single-crystal windows have excellent optical properties, they cannot withstand the mechanical demands of some applications, leading to catastrophic failures. Padture and his collaborators at Surmet Corp. plan to use a novel ceramic nanocomposites approach in making IR transparent windows that are mechanically robust. In this approach the ceramic nanocomposites will have a proliferation of nanoscale grains that are too small to block or scatter IR light, but they will impart high strength. This team is also developing novel processing methods that will allow the fabrication of complex-shaped IR-transparent windows with relative ease and at low cost.
A Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, Padture is an internationally recognized expert in advanced ceramics and nanomaterials. His research in this field has resulted in three patents and about 100 journal publications, including two in Science and one in Nature Materials, which have had significant impact on this field worldwide.
