Hellma Materials GmbH

The company grows calcium fluoride (CaF2), cerbromide (CeBr3) and germanium crystals in particular on a production area of 8,000 square meters and supplies industries ranging from semiconductors to lasers and defense. This is also due to the fact that the properties of the respective crystal types can be used in highly different ways:

Calcium fluoride, for example, is characterized by high transparency in the deep ultraviolet and is one of only a few materials that can be used in the optics of microchip production. The highest purity, a deep understanding of physical processes at the atomic level and sophisticated measurement technology - the quality requirements are high. The demand for calcium fluoride will continue to increase in the future due to ever greater volumes of data, increasing networking of devices and sensors, and global deconcentration of the industry. The CaF2 crystals grown in the company, with a mass of over 100 kilograms, are the largest in the world and the basis for a whole range of products that can only be manufactured with the material from Jena.

Like calcium fluoride, cerbromide is also grown in Jena. It is used to detect gamma radiation and is used in environmental and reactor monitoring, border security and raw material exploration. Hellma Materials is the only company in the world licensed by the inventor to produce this crystal.

Germanium crystals, on the other hand, are manufactured by IV IR Optics in Eisenach - a subsidiary of Hellma Materials. Germanium is a material that is transparent in the infrared, making it the first choice for applications ranging from thermocameras to remote sensing.

Hellma Materials is headquartered in Jena and is part of Hellma GmbH & Co. KG based in Müllheim, south of Freiburg (Baden-Württemberg). Hellma is a leading global manufacturer of precision optical products and a provider of integrated solutions for optical analytics.