Patent ID: 7603876

Claim:
A process for producing an optical element, which comprises (a) softening a shapable optical glass material for press-shaping under heat and (b) press-shaping the softened optical glass; wherein the optical glass comprises, as glass components and by mass %, 10 to 32% of P 2 O 5 , 27 to 65% of Nb 2 O 5 , 10 to 30% of BaO, 0 to 12% of B 2 O 3 , more than 0% but not more than 20% of TiO 2 , more than 0% but not more than 10% of total of Li 2 O, Na 2 O and K 2 O, and more than 0% but not more than 1%, based on the total content of the said glass components, of Sb 2 O 3 , wherein the amount of BaO and Sb 9 O 3 are adjusted to provide the optical glass with a light transmittance that is 50% at a wavelength of 420 nm or shorter, and wherein the optical glass has a refractive index (nd) of at least 1.86 and an Abbe's number (νd) of 24 or less.