An optical component according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a translucent substrate, one or more intermediate layers stacked on at least one of an incident surface and an exit surface of the substrate, and a surface layer stacked on an outermost layer of the one or more intermediate layers, the surface layer containing diamond-like carbon as a main component. At least one intermediate layer among the one or more intermediate layers contains silicon as a main component, and the intermediate layer containing silicon as a main component has an oxygen content of 10 atomic % or less.

Athermal glasses and athermal systems for infrared optical components and systems are disclosed.

A liquid crystal-based non-mechanical beam steering device that permits steering in the mid-wave infrared and has a chalcogenide waveguide. The waveguide core, the subcladding, or both comprise a chalcogenide glass. The liquid crystal-based non-mechanical beam steering device has a tapered subcladding and a liquid crystal layer.

Fiber-reinforced separators/solid electrolytes suitable for use in a cell employing an anode comprising an alkali metal are disclosed. Such fiber-reinforced separators/solid electrolytes may be at least partially amorphous and prepared by compacting, at elevated temperatures, powders of an ion-conducting composition appropriate to the anode alkali metal. The separators/solid electrolytes may employ discrete high aspect ratio fibers and fiber mats or plate-like mineral particles to reinforce the separator solid electrolyte. The reinforcing fibers may be inorganic, such as silica-based glass, or organic, such as a thermoplastic. In the case of thermoplastic fiber-reinforced separators/solid electrolytes, any of a wide range of thermoplastic compositions may be selected provided the glass transition temperature of the polymer reinforcement composition is selected to be higher than the glass transition temperature of the amorphous portion of the separator/solid electrolyte.

Provided are sulfide solid electrolyte particles which have sufficient ion conductivity and which are configured to suppress hydrogen sulfide generation, and an all-solid-state battery comprising the sulfide solid electrolyte particles. Disclosed are sulfide solid electrolyte particles comprising Li, P, S and a halogen as constituent elements and having a Li/P molar ratio of more than 3, wherein an oxygen/sulfur element ratio of a particle surface measured by XPS is 0.29 or more and 0.81 and less, and an oxygen/sulfur element ratio at a depth of 30 nm (in terms of a SiO.sub.2 sputter rate) from the particle surface measured by XPS, is 0.29 or less.

Provided are sulfide solid electrolyte particles which have sufficient ion conductivity and which are, when used in an all-solid-state battery, configured to suppress a resistance increase rate after charge-discharge cycles, and an all-solid-state battery comprising the sulfide solid electrolyte particles. The sulfide solid electrolyte particles may be sulfide solid electrolyte particles comprising a sulfide solid electrolyte that comprises Li, P, S and a halogen as constituent elements, wherein an oxygen/sulfur element ratio of a particle surface measured by XPS, is 0.79 or more and 1.25 or less, and an oxygen/sulfur element ratio at a depth of 30 nm (in terms of a SiO.sub.2 sputter rate) from the particle surface measured by XPS, is 0.58 or less.

A method for making a chalcogenide glass waveguide in a liquid crystal-based non-mechanical beam steering device that permits steering in the mid-wave infrared. The waveguide core, the subcladding, or both comprise a chalcogenide glass. A mask is used to produce a tapered subcladding. Also disclosed is the related non-mechanical beam steering device that includes a chalcogenide waveguide.

Provided is a chalcogenide glass material having excellent weather resistance and being suitable as an optical element for an infrared sensor. The chalcogenide glass material contains, in terms of % by mole, 20 to 99% Te and has an antireflection film formed thereon.

Thin amorphous or partially crystalline lithium-containing and conducting sulfide or oxysulfide glass electrode/separator members are prepared from a layer of molten glass or of glass powder. The resulting glass films are formed to lie face-to face against a lithium metal anode or a sodium metal anode and a cathode and to provide for good transport of lithium ions between the electrodes during repeated cycling of the cell and to prevent shorting of the cell by dendrites growing from the lithium metal or sodium metal anode.

A pseudo-reference electrode comprising a pseudo-reference glass material backed by a silver conductor comprising silver metal, wherein the pseudo-reference glass material is a chalcogenide glass comprising a silver chalcogenide Ag2Ch, wherein Ch denotes a chalcogen, or a halide glass comprising a silver halide and at least one glass-forming oxide of a metal or a metalloid, a mixture of two or more of these glasses, or a composite of at least one of these glasses. This pseudo-reference electrode can be used in ion-selective electrode (ISE) sensors and ion-selective field effect transistors (ISFETs).