Zinc sulfide is a chemically inert material with the characteristics of high purity, insolubility in water, and easy processing etc. It is widely used in the manufacture of infrared windows, fairings and infrared optical components. Like zinc selenide (ZnSe), zinc sulfide (ZnS) is also a material with good refractive index uniformity and consistency.
It shows good image transmission performance in the 8000 nm-12000 nm, and exhibits a broad mid-infrared transmission band. But as the wavelength becomes shorter, absorption and scattering increased. Compared with zinc selenide (ZnSe), zinc sulfide shows some advantages such as low price, high hardness, and twice the breaking strength. It is ideal for manufacturing missile fairings and military infrared windows.