Zerodur

Zerodur, a registered trademark of Schott Glass Technologies, is a lithium aluminosilicate glass-ceramic produced by Schott AG since 1968. It has been used for a number of very large telescope mirrors including Keck I, Keck II, and SOFIA. With its very low coefficient of thermal expansion it can be used to produce mirrors which retain acceptable figures in extremely cold environments such as deep space. Although it has advantages for applications requiring a coefficient of thermal expansion less than that of borosilicate glass it remains very expensive as compared to borosilicate.