Fun Facts Fused Silica

Fused silica is one of the most extraordinary materials used in industry and research. A range of unique optical, mechanical and thermal properties make fused silica indispensable in the production of many high-tech products that enrich our lives every day. What's more, fused silica is not only a quiet everyday hero, but also a significant part of our future.

On this page we would like to introduce you to some of the amazing applications of fused silica: Come with us on a journey through the fused silica world!

When Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins set off for the first moon landing in 1969, over 60 years ago, they placed 3 handy experiments on the moon. One of them is a laser reflector made of 100 triple prisms. To this day, this device makes it possible to measure the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon as well as the continental drift on the Earth - thanks to the high-tech fused silica from Heraeus.

This fused silica makes it possible for a laser beam generated on Earth to cover the distance between the Earth and the Moon in about 2.5 seconds. It travels about 384,000 km through space before hitting an object the size of a small suitcase! This is roughly equivalent to trying to hit a penny from a distance of about 120 km.

The material that stands up to anything: Fused silica

This lunar reflector is still working after more than 60 years - even though the moon has no protective atmosphere. High-energy cosmic UV radiation destroys optical materials. But not the high-purity fused silica. Thanks to the triple prisms made of fused silica, the reflector has reliably sent laser beams back to Earth for decades.

Fused silica from Heraeus is further distinguished by its unique material homogeneity, which is necessary for such a special mirror. This is how Heraeus became part of the famous  Apollo 11 mission and helped write a piece of lunar landing history.

Proving Einstein's Theory of Relativity:

Fused silica from Heraeus helped prove Einstein's theory of relativity by detecting gravitational waves that cause a change in length in the ratio of the diameter of an atom to the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

In 2016, international scientists were able to announce the sensational detection of gravitational waves. They used huge parallel detectors in the USA and Italy to detect a weak tremor in space-time and measured signals created by the collision of two black holes.

These gravitational wave detectors use highly sensitive optical interferometers. The light-guiding components are made of fused silica with extreme transmission values and optical homogeneity. The experts at Heraeus were able to make a significant contribution to increasing the sensitivity of the instrument: fused silica with the lowest absorption made the gravitational wave detector extremely sensitive. This is the only reason why these detectors were able to detect the extremely rare evidence of gravitational waves.

Fused silica is one of the world's most extraordinary and valuable materials. Since fused silica contains no additives and has only minor chemical impurities, it is referred to as a single-component glass: It essentially consists only of silicon dioxide.

In addition to its optical and thermal properties, the material also has unique mechanical properties - such as its enormous tensile strength and reliability. A single fiber of fused silica, for example, can support 10 kg. With 6,500 wafer-thin fibers next to each other, you could therefore lift an African elephant weighing 6.5 tons!

Fusion energy could be a solution to our energy problems! The beautiful dream of bringing the almost infinite energy of the stars to earth is currently taking more shape. Laser fusion seems particularly promising. Heraeus Conamic supplies the fused silica for high-energy lasers that could be used to close future energy gaps via nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion is about nothing less than bringing the energy generation process similar to our sun to earth. As a result, mankind would have at its disposal a virtually inexhaustible source of energy that would have little impact on the environment and produce no greenhouse gases or radioactive waste.

Triggering the fusion reaction on Earth in a power plant presents enormous challenges to scientists and experts. And yet laser fusion has recently made a breakthrough: At NIF in California, the world's most powerful laser was able to trigger a reaction via laser fusion that released more energy than the laser energy required. If this could now be implemented commercially, mankind would have at its disposal a virtually inexhaustible source of energy that produces no greenhouse gases (coal and gas-fired power plants) or radioactive waste (nuclear power plants).

Heraeus currently supplies fused silica for laser optics - including NIF - to fusion test facilities around the world in Europe, the USA and China. This is because the high-precision optics in the 192 laser beams are crucial for laser fusion. Fused silica from Heraeus has high purity and therefore offers excellent optical qualities. In addition, fused silica has the required high transmittance and low absorption in the ultraviolet light spectrum.

If scientists can still maximize efficiency, laser fusion would have very great potential to close our energy gap or even replace other energy sources. The next decades in nuclear fusion research promise to be exciting!

Heraeus provided scientific support for several Nobel Prizes with its high-purity fused silica.

Super-short laser pulses are increasingly being used in science or, for example, material marking. In 2018, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland received the Physics Nobel Prize for developing a method to generate high-energy, ultrashort optical pulses. Components made of optical fused silica direct these pulses through the laser system to the application.

With a special, high-purity fused silica for gravitational wave detectors, Heraeus experts have helped prove Einstein's theory of relativity. The improved absorption of this fused silica made the gravitational wave detector extremely sensitive. This was the only way to detect gravitational waves and win the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Heraeus provided scientific support for several Nobel Prizes with its high-purity fused silica.

Super-short laser pulses are increasingly being used in science or, for example, material marking. In 2018, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland received the Physics Nobel Prize for developing a method to generate high-energy, ultrashort optical pulses. Components made of optical fused silica direct these pulses through the laser system to the application.

With a special, high-purity fused silica for gravitational wave detectors, Heraeus experts have helped prove Einstein's theory of relativity. The improved absorption of this fused silica made the gravitational wave detector extremely sensitive. This was the only way to detect gravitational waves and win the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.

And the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for the "Lords of Light" would also not have been possible without fused silica British-American researcher Charles Kuen Kao and his U.S. colleagues Willard Boyle and George Smith developed light-sensitive chips and fiber-optic cables. Without their work, the digital camera revolution and the worldwide data network would never have happened.

In 1966, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Charles Kao described how light signals could be transported for kilometers using fiber optic cables. With his discovery, Kao laid the foundation for today's Internet.

The demand for transmission capacity for the Internet and thus for fiber optics is constantly increasing. Around 300 million kilometers of optical fibers are laid worldwide every year. What many people do not know, these optical fibers are made of fused silica.

Heraeus has been manufacturing fused silica since 1899, and its technological innovations have helped us, as Internet users, get our information on the screen even faster every day. Heraeus was also involved in the fiber optic network in Germany from the very beginning. In 1978, Deutsche Bundespost installed the first fiber optic network in Berlin. The fibers contained in the cables were made of fused silica from Heraeus. Since 1993, the family-owned company has produced high-purity synthetic quartz glass tubes and cylinders used in the production of millions of kilometers of high-performance glass fibers.

You could drop a quartz glass cube at a temperature of 1,000°C into ice water without damaging the glass. A beer bottle would shatter at a temperature difference of just 40 degrees C.

Part of the first art exhibit in space is a quartz glass cube:

One of the first works of art on the moon is a quartz glass cube from Heraeus! The cube, engraved tree rings, was designed by the German artist Jamal Ageli and manufactured in collaboration with Leica and the laser specialists at the Ernst Abbe University in Jena. Due to its high radiation resistance and durability, fused silica from Heraeus was chosen for the cube material.

The Moon Gallery is an international collaborative work of art - a gallery of ideas that aims to bring the best of humanity to the moon.

The Moon Gallery’s goal is to establish the first permanent museum on the moon. And in this way, make the benefits of the Moon accessible to everyone on Earth through a sustainable exploration process. As part of the international art project, 100 artifacts will be sent to the moon. For this purpose, artists, astrophotographers as well as various partner companies, such as the European Space Agency esa, have joined forces to organize the first permanent art exhibition on the moon.