Multilayer Dielectric Gratings (MLDGs) are the core optics of the picosecond-petawatt laser systems based on Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA). The MLDGs encounter nanosecond- and picosecond-laser irradiation during the broadening and recompression of the laser pulse in CPA. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the laser-induced damage performance of MLDG in the nanosecond (ns) and picosecond (ps) regimes is required. Herein, we examined the laser damage characteristics of MLDGs induced by the 8-ns and 8.6-ps laser pulses. In the two tested laser pulse widths, the damage of the MLDG was dominated by the nano absorbing defects and nodular defects, but the damage mechanism has changed. When the laser pulse width is shortened from ns to ps, the damage sites caused by the absorbing defects transfer from the interface to the grating pillars, where there is the maximum electric field. And the nodular ejection pit changes from a complete eruption to a local damage corresponding to the electric field enhancement region. For the nodular defects, ns-laser conditioning was introduced for removing them and achieved a maximum enhancement of 40% in the ps laser-induced damage threshold.
The laser damage characteristics of the thin-film polarizers for the wavelength of 532 nm and AOI of 56° were investigated using a Nd:YAG laser system with a wavelength of 532 nm and a pulse width of 9 ns. The results showed that the damage morphologies induced by nodular defects in the witnesses is significantly different compared to 1064 nm polarizers. The nodular seeds are incompletely ejected after on-shot laser and butterfly-like damage pits are formed, which gradually develop into the typical nodular ejection pits as laser irradiation. Analysis of the internal structure showed that single or two adjacent SiO2 particles formed the nodular seeds, which were mainly located in bottom layers and were tightly bound to the surrounding layers. In addition, the simulated electric field intensity (EFI) distributions and damage morphologies of nodular defects with different structures were compared, and it was found that the formation of the nodular damage is closely related with the EFI distributions in the thin films.
Time-resolved pump-probe technology is an effective method to study the dynamic damage process of optics. In this paper, the dynamic damage process of HfO2/SiO2 anti-reflection coating, for the cases that the coating located on the laser incidence (forward process) and exit (reverse process) surface, irradiated by a 1064nm nanosecond laser was studied based on the time-resolved pump-probe technology of intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD). Under the irradiation of the same fluence (52J/cm2), pits without and with the layer peeling existed in both forward and reverse processes. However, the lateral size and depth of the small pits generated by the reverse process are larger than those of the forward process. The finite element analysis shows that the electric field intensity (EFI) on the substrate-coating interface for the forward and reverse processes is similar, which is not enough to form the difference in damage morphology. These results indicate the develop process of the plasma after its formation under the subsequent laser pulse irradiation determines the damage difference in the above two cases. The time-resolved study of anti-reflective coating damage is of great significance for its damage mechanism analysis and practical application.
Multilayer dielectric gratings(MLDGs)have been widely used in chirped pulse amplification due to their high laser induced damage thresholds(LIDTs). The quest for MLDG LIDT improvement is endless. For MLDGs applied in picosecond(ps) lasers, damage shows the characteristics of both thermal effect and nonlinear effect. The thermal damage of multilayer dielectric films (MLDFs) and MLDGs were investigated using a 1064 nm laser with a duration of 8 ns in our study. Differently from previous 1-on-1 studies, Raster Scan method is adopted to investigate the effect of low-density defects on the laser damage resistance of MLDFs with different top layers and MLDGs. The results show that the LIDTs of MLDGs are half of those MLDFs. For MLDFs with the top layer of HfO2, the damage behaves the ablation of the top layer material due to the surface strong electrical field. For MLDFs with top layer Ta2O5 and SiO2, the typical morphologies are nodule ejections. The initial damage of MLDGs fabricated by etching these three kinds of grating films are similar, and all behave nodule ejections. This indicates that reducing nodule defects can help the MLDGs LIDT improvement in ps pules. These results provide guidance for process optimizations of MLDG fabrication.
Multilayer dielectric gratings (MLDGs) have been widely used as pulse compression grating (PCG) in chirped pulse amplification (CPA) technology due to their high laser induced damage thresholds (LIDTs). The quest for MLDGs LIDTs improvement is endless. As one of the core components of CPA process, MLDGs will encounter laser irradiation of nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond. Therefore, the damage characteristics of MLDGs should be studied at various pulse widths. We performed the LIDTs test on a Nd:YAG laser system with a wavelength of 1064 nm and a pulse width of 8 ns. Damage characteristics of both MLDFs and MLDGs were investigated. MLDFs were deposited on the substrates cleaned by hand wipe or ultrasonic cleaning. The results show that the LIDTs of MLDGs are approximately 60% of MLDFs. Besides, LIDTs of MLDFs with HfO2 top layer will not be affected by the methods of substrates cleaning due to its surface damage characteristic related to the non-zero EFI on the surface material. However, for the MLDFs with top layer of Ta2O5, LIDTs of MLDFs deposited on substrates cleaned by hand wipe are higher than those deposited on the ultrasonically cleaned substrates.
Indium tin oxide (ITO) films have been widely used in optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, organic light emitting diodes, liquid crystal devices and so on. The simple and efficient laser annealing technologies have been employed to achieve the desired structure and properties of the films for practical applications. We focus on an 1064nm quasi-CW laser annealing, which is maybe an alternative low-cost choice compared with the current excimer and fs laser annealing. Effects of 1064nm quasi-CW laser annealing on the optical performance, electrical property and chemical composition of the ITO film were investigated in detail in this paper. It was found that the ITO film surface appeared discoloration annealed by 2000 W/cm2. Experimental results showed the transmittance of the above annealed ITO film at near-infrared band was improved obviously and the electrical sheet resistance was increased slightly compared with that of the unannealed film. The improvement of the transmission at 1064nm of the annealed film come from the reduction of absorption. The XPS analysis results showed a modification of rations of oxygen and Sn2+ after laser annealing, indicating the reduction of oxygen vacancy and free electrons, were responsible for the optoelectrical property modification of ITO films. However, when the higher annealed laser power density was utilized, the ITO film surface occurred laser-induced cracks. The annealing mechanism was discussed.
To analyze the mechanism of damage threshold enhancement after laser conditioning, the fluorescent and stimulated Raman scattering properties of unconditioned and laser-conditioned KD2PO4 crystals are compared in detail. It is revealed that the intensity of fluorescence decreases significantly, especially fluorescence <400 nm, after nanosecond laser conditioning, and the change of the stimulated Raman scattering peak at 921 cm − 1 is very weak. Moreover, the intensity of fluorescence further decreases after subnanosecond laser conditioning. A sharp decrease in the fluorescence intensity <400 nm reflects a change in energy levels of the electron defects in a crystal. The Raman scattering proves very weak change of the PO4 vibrational modes. Furthermore, a laser-conditioning mechanism is discussed in combination with electronic transition and thermal processes.
Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) reflective coatings play an important role in many high-tech fields including cosmic physics, space research, life science and synchrotron radiation. In this research, the emphasis are focused on the aging effect of 135.6nm high reflective coatings. The coatings were deposited by resistive heating method based on Lanthanum fluoride (LaF3) and Aluminum fluoride (AlF3). Optical property, surface morphology and roughness, and composition were characterized in different period after deposited. Due to the porous structure and the worse stability of lanthanum fluoride, the content of C and O element increased in LaF3 thin films during aging process. On one hand, the content of C and O are the hydrocarbon contamination from environment and packing boxes. On the other hand, due to the oxidation of film materials, the fluorides will turn into oxyfluoride, which will increase O content. As a result, there will be an increase of absorption and a decrease of reflectance of the 135.6nm high reflective coating. The surface roughness decreased which led to the reduction of scattering and the rise of reflectivity. There will be LaF3-AlF3 mixed layers between interfaces because of interface diffusion, which will further reduce the film performance.
The damage characteristics of the indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer and the polyimide (PI) layer, which are two constituent components of a LCD, induced by a high-peak-power laser and a high-average-power laser are investigated. The PI alignment layer is pinned on the ITO film to imitate the structure of the LCD as much as possible in our study. Under the irradiation of the high-peak-power laser, the damage process of the PI/ITO/SUB sample involves thermally induced plastic deformation, followed by cooling when the irradiation fluence is near the LIDT, and rupture when the irradiation fluence is higher. High-average-power laser irradiation results in damaged morphologies of the bulge for the PI/ITO/SUB sample. The temperature distributions induced by the pulsed laser and the high-repetition-rate laser are investigated. The damage is attributed to the intrinsic heat absorption of the ITO films. Under the irritation of the high-peak-power laser, the temperature rises rapidly to a high degree at very short time because of the instant strong absorption in ITO layer, and resulted in vaporization of ITO layer consequently. Subsequently, the vaporized ITO breaks through the surface PI and develops the visible damage. However, under the irritation of high-average-power laser, ITO layer absorbs laser energy, resulting in a slow temperature rise and a small temperature gradient.
In order to analyze the mechanism of damage threshold enhancement after laser conditioning, the stimulated Raman scattering and fluorescent properties of un-conditioned and laser conditioned of DKDP crystals were compared in detail. It revealed that the intensity of Raman scattering peak 921cm-1 were slightly lowered, and the intensity of fluorescence was much decreased, especially the fluorescence below 400nm, after nanosecond laser conditioning. Moreover, the intensity of fluorescence could be further decreased after sub-nanosecond laser conditioning. The slightly variation of Raman scattering proved the modification of the PO4 vibrational modes. The sharply decrease of fluorescence intensity below 400 nm reflected the density reduction of electron defects in these crystals. On the basis of the above analysis, laser conditioning mechanism in DKDP crystals was discussed.
Interest in the YAG (Y3Al5O12) transparent ceramics for laser systems has been increasing. As the laser gain medium in laser systems, especially in high power laser systems, the laser damage resistant of YAG ceramics are required to be evaluated. The laser damage characteristics of four ceramics with the dimensions of 30mm×15mm×3mm were investigated. It is found that the bulk laser induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) of the YAG ceramics are lower than their surface LIDTs. The bulk LIDTs are related with the transmissions of the YAG ceramics. The surface damage morphologies should be induced by the opens pores on the ceramic surface, which are left by surface manufacturing.
Quasi-CW laser damage process of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film was investigated. The ITO film with thickness of 300 nm was deposited on fused silica substrate by magnetron sputtering. Experiments were conducted on quasi-CW laser with wavelength of 1064 nm, and the test was executed in single shot test with radiation time of 60 s. The damage morphologies were observed via optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The apparent damage started with change in color which the morphologies were visible to the naked eyes. With the power density higher than the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT), there were cracks in the center of the damage site. The temperature distribution of the ITO thin film was investigated based on the heat equation.
Quasi-CW laser damage behaviors of indium tin oxide (ITO) single-layer and polyimide (PI) on ITO bi-layer were investigated. The ITO single-layer with thickness of 25nm was deposited on fused silica substrate by magnetron sputtering, and the PI/ITO bi-layer was prepared by spin coating 80nm PI film on the 25nm ITO single-layer. Single-shot, with radiation time of 120 seconds, laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the samples were determined according to ISO 21254. The damage morphologies were mapped by optical profiler. It showed interesting phenomena that the PI top layer increased LIDT of the sample. The typical damage morphologies were blisters, and the height of the blisters increased as the laser power density increases. The formation and evolution of the blisters were analyzed.
Combining high power laser irradiation and emission spectra measurement system, the photoluminescence properties of KDP crystal under high power laser irradiation were studied. Photoluminescence measurement was performed using 532 nm and 355 nm laser excitation at relatively high laser fluence but still under the laser induced damage threshold. Four emission peaks, centered at 559 nm, 586 nm, 609 nm and 621 nm, were observed while irradiated by high power laser at 532 nm. Five emission peaks, centered at 358 nm, 365 nm, 377 nm, 385 nm and 390 nm were observed under high power laser irradiation at 355 nm. Based on the analysis of wave number transformation, these peaks were attributed to the Raman scattering.
Previous works proved that laser conditioning process was able to improve laser induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) in the bulk of KDP/DKDP crystals. In this paper, it's also demonstrated that laser conditioning process was an effective method to improve LIDTs at their surface. The variation of scattering defects and absorption in the bulk of DKDP crystals during laser pre-exposure was investigated by combining light scattering technique and on-line transmittance measurement technique. Laser-induced disappearance of scattering defects and decrease of absorption revealed the mitigation process of laser damage initiators in the bulk of KDP/DKDP crystals. At the surface of KDP/DKDP crystals, most of damage initiators were the invisible defects. Laser conditioning process could mitigate the invisible defects, but it's hard to mitigate the indentation with fractures. Therefore, it's admitted that laser conditioning process could help to improve the optical properties of crystal material, but it's hard to improve the properties of optical finishing.
A new method is proposed to inspect the subsurface damage (SSD) that plays a key role on improving the laser induced
damage threshold (LIDT) of optics applied in high power laser system. This method is based on total internal reflection
microscopy (TIRM) and digital image processing technique. Because of relatively small depth of focus of a microscope
at large magnification, a series of TIRM images can be obtained while the microscope focuses into different depths of
sample by micro-focusing control. Definition of each image is calculated through wavelet transform. The relation
between definition of TIRM images and the depth of SSD is established. According to the definition curve, the position
and size along the depth direction can be acquired simultaneously. The measurement accuracy is dependent on the depth
of field of microscope. This proposed method has been applied to measure the SSD information of finished K9 glass,
fused silica glass and Nd-doped glass.
Laser damage of TYPE-I KDP plate was investigated. High-purity large-aperture KDP crystals used for second harmonic frequency generation in high power laser systems were prepared by rapid growth. The different parts of the KDP boule, spanning the growth history including early, middle and late growth stages, were examined for their bulk defect properties and laser damage behaviors. Ultra-microscopy was employed to analyze the preexisting laser scattering defects, and the correlations between scattering and laser damage initiations/ growth were identified. The laser damage fluence was dominated by the defect scale or the scattering intensity. Simulation of thermal response of the defects under laser radiation indicated the micro-explosion occurrence. Thermal annealing and laser conditioning were applied to reduce defect density and improve laser damage resistance. Based on the above techniques, laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of 400 mm aperture TYPE-I crystal plate exceeded 22J/cm2 (1064nm, 3ns), which met the requirements of the high power laser systems.
In this paper, laser induced reactions of bulk defects in DKDP crystals were real-time detected by ultra-microscopy while high power laser irradiation with different photon energy, and the defect elimination processes were observed. It’s found that there were two kinds of bulk defects that can be eliminated: submicron-scale defect and nanoscale defect clusters. The decrement of submicron-scale defects was related to the laser parameters, such as laser fluence and photon energy. The defect decrement could achieve its maximum value at appropriate laser fluence, while the photon energy was fixed. It indicated that up to ~47% of defects could be eliminated by laser irradiation at 3.50eV (355nm). While the laser fluence was fixed, the amount of defects reduced by laser irradiation at 3.50eV was larger than that at 1.17eV (1064nm). The nanoscale defect clusters were hard to be eliminated by laser irradiation at 1.17eV, while most of them could be reduced by laser irradiation at 3.50eV.
The CO2 laser mitigation method has been developed to mitigate the ultraviolet laser damage site on a fused silica surface. The mitigation process was monitored by an on-line white light scattering imaging system in order to ensure that the mitigation is successful. Additionally, a total internal reflection microscope was utilized to analyze the mitigation pit. By optimizing the laser mitigation parameters, the rough damage site can be replaced by a smooth Gaussian-shaped mitigation pit. The chemical composition of the damage sites and the CO2 laser mitigation pits was also measured with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. It reveals that the oxygen deficiency center defect of the ultraviolet laser damage site is removed after CO2 laser mitigation, which helps us better understand the CO2 laser mitigation process.
The laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) and damage morphology of the monolayer coating are easily influenced by
the finish condition of the substrate, which makes it difficult to compare the LIDT of different coating materials. In order
to eliminate the influence of defect and sub-defect on the substrate, HfO2, Sc2O3, Y2O3, Al2O3 and SiO2 monolayer
coatings were prepared on 1064 nm HfO2/SiO2 high reflection coatings, using conventional e-beam deposition. The LIDT, as well as the damage morphology after laser irradiation at wavelength of 1064 nm, was measured and compared with that of the monolayer coating deposited on BK7 glass substrate.
Growth of laser induced damage on the surface of fused silica plays a major role in determining the
optics lifetime in high power laser system. Previous studies proved that the size of the crater increased
under successive laser shots, but that of the gray haze and CO2 laser mitigation spot remained constant.
In this study, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focus ion beam (FIB) and profiler were applied to
observe their vertical and horizontal cross sections. Energy dispersive spectrometers (EDS)
micro-analysis technique and fluorescent microscopy were used to detect the differences of chemical
composition and molecular structure among the three. Results showed that the absorbing defect and
crack was found in the crater, which did not exist in the gray haze and mitigation spot. Finite difference
time domain (FDTD) was applied to calculate the light intensity distribution. It's found that the peak
light intensity around the crater was much higher. Based on the above analysis, a growth mechanism of
laser induced damage in fused silica was proposed.
Multi-parametric experiments were carried out to investigate laser conditioning efficiency for KDP crystals as a function
of fluence step, laser fluence, and S/1 pulse sequence by using a tripled Nd:YAG laser (355nm) with a pulsewidth of
about 6 ns. It was disclosed that the laser conditioning enhancement was mainly depended on the maximum fluence
which was reached in conditioning process. Compared with increasing steps, higher fluence can more efficiently improve
the laser damage resistance capability. Moreover, S/1 pulse sequence was better for stabilizing defects and could enhance
the damage threshold further. Based on the results, an optimized laser conditioning process was put forward. Firstly, an
N/1 conditioning program can be used to achieve the maximum fluence without causing damage. Secondly, an S/1
program shall be adopted to further enhance the damage threshold with the maximum fluence which is achieved in the
foregoing N/1 program. After the laser conditioning process, damage tests showed that laser damage threshold was
almost doubled. The model of laser conditioning was discussed on the basis of the size reduction of absorber by the local
decomposition of the surrounding material. And then the dependence of conditioning efficiency on the process
parameters was analyzed.
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