Glass Materials

HEF Photonics stocks, sources, and fabricates a broad range of sheet glass and specialty substrate materials for optical, display, sensing, medical, defense, and industrial applications.

Our team works with customers to select the appropriate material based on the optical, mechanical, thermal, chemical, dimensional, and environmental requirements of the application. Materials can be supplied cut-to-size or combined with machining, edging, strengthening, screen printing, thin-film coatings, and other value-added processes to provide a finished component.

Available materials range from standard soda lime and low-iron glass to borosilicate, aluminosilicate, fused silica, quartz, filter glass, and specialty materials.

Common applications include:

• Optical windows
• Displays and touch systems
• Imaging systems
• Optical sensors
• LiDAR and scanning systems
• Photonics
• Medical and analytical instruments
• Defense and avionics
• Industrial equipment

Substrate options:

• Soda-lime and low-iron glass • Low-expansion and heat-resistant glass
• Borosilicate glass • UV-transmitting glass
• High Ion-Exchange (HIE™) • Specialty and filter glass materials aluminosilicates

Soda lime glass is a cost-effective and widely used material for displays, protective windows, sensors, instrumentation, and other applications requiring good optical transmission and broad manufacturing flexibility.

Low-iron glass reduces the green tint associated with standard clear soda lime glass, providing improved visible transmission and more neutral color where appearance or optical clarity is important.

Both materials can be fabricated to custom sizes and shapes and combined with edging, strengthening, screen printing, optical coatings, conductive coatings, and other value-added processes.

Available materials include:

• Soda-Lime Glass
• Low Iron Soda-Lime Glass
• Anti-Glare (AG) Reducing Etched Glass
• Anti-Reflection & Anti-Glare Glass
• PRO-HC-VIS1 Abrasion Resistant Hard Coat
• Clear & Tinted Glass
• Grey Glass
• Low Emissivity (Low-E) Glass
• Heat Absorbing Float Glass
• Patterned Glass for Diffusion & Light Control
• SCHOTT B 270® Crown White (Superwhite)
• AgamaEtch Premium Low Sparkle Anti-Glare Glass

Borosilicate glass provides lower thermal expansion and improved resistance to thermal shock compared with standard soda lime glass. It is well suited for applications exposed to elevated temperatures, temperature changes, chemicals, or demanding operating environments.

Available materials include SCHOTT BOROFLOAT® 33 and other borosilicate substrates suitable for optical windows, instrumentation, displays, sensors, lighting, medical devices, and industrial applications.

Borosilicate glass can be cut, machined, edged, polished, screen printed, and coated to meet application-specific requirements.

Available materials include:

• SCHOTT Borofloat® 33 Borosilicate Float Glass
• SCHOTT Duran® Tubed Borosilicate Lab Glass
• SCHOTT Supremax® Rolled Borosilicate Glass
• SCHOTT D 263® Colorless Thin Glass

Aluminosilicate glass combines excellent optical properties with the ability to achieve high mechanical strength, making it well suited for displays, protective windows, sensors, handheld devices, and other applications requiring thin, lightweight, damage-resistant glass.

HEF Photonics works with a variety of aluminosilicate materials, including glasses designed for chemical strengthening through High Ion Exchange (HIE™).

Available materials include options from SCHOTT, Corning, AGC, and other glass manufacturers, with fabrication and strengthening available depending on the selected material and application.

• AGC Dragontrail™ Chemically Strengthened Glass
• Corning® Gorilla® Glass
• SCHOTT Xensation®AGC Dragontrail™ Chemically Strengthened Glass – Abrisa Technologies Aluminosilicate Cover Glass
• PRO-NG™ 120 HIE™ Non-Glare Aluminosilicate Glass
• SCHOTT AS 87 eco Ultra-Thin Aluminosilicate Glass
• SCHOTT BOROFLOAT® 33 Borosilicate Float Glass
• PRO-HC-VIS1 Abrasion Resistant Hard Coat

Thin and ultra-thin glass is used in applications where weight, package size, flexibility, or compact optical design is important.

HEF Photonics offers glass in thicknesses starting at approximately 0.03 mm, with material options including aluminosilicate, borosilicate, alkali-free and other specialty compositions.

Available materials include:

• AGC EN-A1 Alkali-Free Boro-Aluminosilicate Glass
• Corning Eagle XG® Borosilicate LCD Glass
• SCHOTT AS 87 eco Ultra-Thin Aluminosilicate Glass
• SCHOTT D 263® T eco Ultra-Thin Glass
• SCHOTT BOROFLOAT® 33 Borosilicate Float Glass

Fabrication capabilities include cutting, precision dicing, machining, strengthening where applicable, screen printing, and thin-film coating.

Thin and ultra-thin glass is used in displays, sensors, microelectronics, imaging systems, optical assemblies, and other applications where reduced weight and thickness are important.

Fused silica and fused quartz provide very low thermal expansion, high temperature capability, and broad optical transmission, making them well suited for demanding optical, UV, thermal, and precision applications.

Available materials include Corning® Fused Silica, GE 124 Fused Quartz, and other grades selected according to the optical and environmental requirements of the application.

Typical applications include:

• UV optics and windows
• Optical sensors and instrumentation
• High-temperature windows
• Photonics
• Semiconductor and microelectronics
• Precision optical components
• Applications requiring low thermal expansion

Materials for Thermal Stability

Low-expansion and heat-resistant glass materials are available for applications exposed to elevated temperatures, thermal cycling, or applications where dimensional stability is important.

Material options include:

• Corning® Fused Silica
• GE 124 Fused Quartz
• Heat-Tempered/Heat-Strengthened Glass
• SCHOTT BOROFLOAT® 33 Borosilicate Float Glass
• SCHOTT Robax® Transparent Ceramic Glass

Material selection depends on the required operating temperature, coefficient of thermal expansion, optical transmission, thickness, geometry, and environmental requirements.

Filter glass provides wavelength-selective performance through the glass material itself and can be used alone or combined with thin-film optical coatings to achieve more complex spectral requirements.

HEF Photonics supplies and fabricates a range of colored, neutral density, and specialty filter glass for imaging, sensing, display, illumination, night vision, and other optical applications.

Available options include:

• Dichroics, Color Correction & Color Temperature Filters
• Grey Glass
• NVIS Filters

Filter glass can be fabricated to custom sizes and shapes, edged, polished, strengthened where appropriate, screen printed, and optically coated.

Applications operating in the ultraviolet require careful substrate selection because transmission varies significantly by glass composition and wavelength.

HEF Photonics offers UV-transmitting substrate materials including fused silica, fused quartz, and selected specialty glasses. Our team can help select a material based on the required wavelength range, transmission, thickness, operating environment, and downstream fabrication or coating requirements.

• Corning® Fused Silica 
• GE 124 Fused Quartz
• SCHOTT BOROFLOAT® 33 Borosilicate Float Glass

Low-expansion and heat-resistant glass materials are available for applications exposed to elevated temperatures, thermal cycling, or applications where dimensional stability is important.

Material options include:

• Fused silica
• Fused quartz
• SCHOTT BOROFLOAT® 33
• SCHOTT ROBAX® glass-ceramic
• Other application-specific materials

Material selection depends on the required operating temperature, coefficient of thermal expansion, optical transmission, thickness, geometry, and environmental requirements.

HEF Photonics offers glass solutions designed to reduce glare and unwanted surface reflection for displays, instrumentation, optical interfaces, and other applications where visibility and contrast are important.

For applications requiring increased transmission and reduced surface reflection solutions include:

• AgamaEtch – Premium Low Sparkle Anti-Glare Glass,
• PRO-NG™ 120 HIE™ Non-Glare Aluminosilicate Glass
• Anti-Reflection & Anti-Glare Glass

Anti-glare surface treatments and thin-film antireflection coatings provide different optical characteristics and can be selected based on the application.

Radiation shielding glass provides a transparent viewing barrier for applications requiring protection from X-ray radiation while maintaining direct visibility into the working area.

Available materials can be fabricated to custom dimensions for medical, dental, laboratory, inspection, and industrial X-ray applications.

Radiation Shielding Glass