Optical glass

1. A process for the production of an optical element, which comprises grinding and polishing the optical element blank formed of an optical glass comprising, by mol %,

0.1 to 40% of SiO 2 ,

10 to 50% of B 2 O 3 ,

0 to 10% of total of Li 2 O, Na 2 O and K 2 O,

0 to 10% of total of MgO, CaO, SrO and BaO,

0.5 to 22% of ZnO,

5 to 50% of La 2 O 3 ,

0.1 to 25% of Gd 2 O 3 ,

0.1 to 20% of Y 2 O 3 ,

0 to 20% of Yb 2 O 3 ,

0 to 25% of ZrO 2 ,

0 to 25% of TiO 2 ,

0 to 20% of Nb 2 O 5 ,

0 to 10% of Ta 2 O 5 ,

0.5% or more but not more than 20% of WO 3 ,

0 to less than 3% of GeO 2 ,

0 to 10% of Bi 2 O 3 , and

0 to 10% of Al 2 O 3 ,

the mass ratio of the content of SiO 2 to the content of B 2 O 3 , SiO 2 /B 2 O 3 , being 1 or less,

the optical glass having a refractive index nd of 1.86 to 1.95 and an Abbe's number νd of (2.36−nd)/0.014 or more but less than 38, and

the optical glass having a glass transition temperature of 660° C. or higher.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the optical glass contains 0 to 7 mol % of Ta 2 O 5 .

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the optical glass is a Ge-free glass.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the optical element blank is used which has been prepared by a process comprising softening a press-molding glass gob under heat and press-molding it.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the optical element blank is used which has been prepared by a process comprising melting glass raw materials and press-molding molten glass.