LightPath Technologies Announces Commercial Availability of First BlackDiamond-NRL Based New Infrared Glass, BDNL-4

New Material is Critical to Industry Efforts to Replace Germanium in Infrared Optics

ORLANDO, FL / ACCESSWIRE / April 4, 2024 / LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) ("LightPath," the "Company," or "we"), a leading vertically integrated global manufacturer and integrator of proprietary optical and infrared technologies, today announced the commercial launch of its first new BlackDiamond-NRL infrared glass, BDNL-4, a key material in the chalcogenide glass series licensed from the US Naval Research Laboratories (NRL) as a substitute for Germanium.

BDNL-4 is a new material that exhibits a negative thermo-optic coefficient, an important attribute for making systems athermalized, enabling the design of devices that are unaffected by temperature changes. BDNL-4 is also a true multi-spectral material that can be used across SWIR, MWIR and LWIR imaging bands. As with all its Chalcogenide materials, LightPath offers antireflective and protective DLC coatings for the new BDNL-4 materials. Following years of development at NRL, BDNL-4 is licensed exclusively to LightPath.

To qualify BDNL-4, the manufacturing-readiness process and tests included extensive tests and measurements of a large number of samples from different production batches, in accordance with the plan for developing alternatives to Germanium set forth and sponsored by US Defense Department ("DoD") via the Defense Logistics Agency ("DLA"). BDNL-4 is being produced in the same facility utilizing the equipment LightPath uses to produce its BD-6 infrared chalcogenide glass.

"This is the first material from those developed at NRL to be made available as part of our partnership with the DoD to commercialize Germanium substitutes," said Sam Rubin, President and Chief Executive Officer of LightPath. "The Chinese export restrictions on Germanium acted as a key catalyst for BDNL-4 to be produced in the USA using raw ingredients commonly available from multiple friendly countries. By providing alternatives like BDNL-4 for use in optics, more Germanium will also be freed up for other industries such as semiconductors. Currently it is estimated that 25% of Germanium is used in infrared optics.