Lumicera is a

transparent ceramic Many ceramic materials, both glassy and crystalline, have found use as optically transparent materials in various forms from bulk solid-state components to high surface area forms such as thin films, coatings, and fibers. Such devices have found ...

developed by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Murata Manufacturing is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic components, based in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto. It produces ceramic passive electronic components, primarily capacitors, and has a majority marketshare worldwide in ceramic filters, high-frequency parts, and s ...

first developed transparent

polycrystalline A crystallite is a small or even microscopic crystal which forms, for example, during the cooling of many materials. Crystallites are also referred to as grains. Bacillite is a type of crystallite. It is rodlike with parallel longulites. S ...

ceramics in February 2001. This

ceramic is a type of

dielectric resonator A dielectric resonator is a piece of dielectric (Electrical conductor, nonconductive but Polarizability, polarizable) material, usually ceramic, that is designed to function as a resonator for radio waves, generally in the microwave and millimete ...

material commonly used in

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...

s and

millimeter wave Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). It is in the microwave part of the radio spectrum, between t ...

s. While offering superior electrical properties, high levels of transmissivity, and

refractive index In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is the ratio of the apparent speed of light in the air or vacuum to the speed in the medium. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or refrac ...

, it also has good optical characteristics without

birefringence Birefringence, also called double refraction, is the optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. These optically anisotropic materials are described as birefrin ...

. Normally, ceramics are opaque because pores are formed at triple points where grains intersect, causing scattering of incident light. Murata has optimized the entire development process of making dense and homogenous ceramics to improve their performance. Under recommendations from

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It ...

, the material itself has been refined for use in digital camera optical lenses by endowing it with improved transmission of short wavelength light and by reducing pores inside ceramics that reduce transparency. Lumicera has the same light transmitting qualities as optical glass commonly used in today's conventional camera lenses, however it has a refractive index (nd = 2.08 at 587 nm) much greater than that of optical glass (nd = 1.5 – 1.85 ) and offers superior strength. The Lumicera Z variant is described as

barium oxide Barium oxide, also known as baria, is a white hygroscopic non-flammable chemical compound, compound with the formula BaO. It has a Cubic crystal system, cubic structure and is used in cathode-ray tubes, crown glass, and Catalysis, catalysts. It ...

based material, not containing any environmentally hazardous materials (e.g.

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

). Lumicera is transparent up to 10 micrometers, making it useful for instruments operating in the mid-

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

spectrum. Lumicera is a trademark of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Lumicera is used in some Casio Exilim cameras, where it allowed 20% reduction of the lens profile.

References

Optical materials Ceramic materials Ceramic engineering Transparent materials {{ceramics-stub