5. Conclusion

In the field of chalcogenide glasses, academic research and technology transfer have been feeding off each other for the past two decades. This dynamic, which has led to numerous scientific and technological innovations, is set to continue in the years ahead. Today, in terms of the material itself, research is continuing into the development of new stable glass compositions, transparent ever further into the infrared, beyond 20 μm. Glass of this type would further enhance the performance of fiber or integrated optics sensors, by broadening their spectral range. However, even if today the performance of planar fibers and waveguides, in terms of optical losses, is largely sufficient for these short-distance applications, the intrinsic purity of the glasses remains perfectible, and any reduction in the level of impurities in chalcogenide glasses will open up new prospects for the generation...