Laser resistant coatings are needed for beam steering (mirrors), pulse switching (polarizers), and high transport efficiency on environmental barriers (windows / lenses) on large laser systems. A range of defects limit the exposure fluence of these coatings. By understanding the origin and damage mechanisms for these defects, the deposition process can be optimized to realize coatings with greater laser resistance. Electric field modeling can provide insight into which defects are most problematic. Laser damage growth studies are useful for determining a functional laser damage criteria.
Mitigation techniques such as micro-machining with a single-crystal diamond cutting tool or short pulse laser ablation using the burst technique can be used to arrest growth in damage sites to extend optic lifetime.
Spectral emission from optical breakdown in the bulk of a transparent dielectric contains information about the nature of the breakdown medium. We have made time resolved measurements of the breakdown induced emission caused by nanosecond and femtosecond infrared laser pulses. We previously demonstrated that the emission due to ns pulses is blackbody in nature allowing determination of the fireball temperature and pressure during and after the damage event. The emission due to femtosecond pulse breakdown is not blackbody in nature; two different spectral distributions being noted. In one case, the peak spectral distribution occurs at the second harmonic of the incident radiation, in the other the distribution is broader and flatter and presumably due to continuum generation. The differences between ns and fs breakdown emission can be explained by the differing breakdown region geometries for the two pulse durations. The possibility to use spectral emission as a diagnostic of the emission region morphology will be discussed.
We report an experimental investigation of mitigating surface damage growth at 351 nm for machine-finished DKDP optics. The objective was to determine which methods could be applied to pre-initiated or retrieved-from-service optics, in order to stop further damage growth for large aperture DKDP optics used in high-peak-power laser applications. The test results, and the evaluation thereof, are presented for several mitigation methods applied to DKDP surface damage. The mitigation methods tested were CW-CO2 laser processing, aqueous wet-etching, short-pulse laser ablation, and micro-machining. We found that micro-machining, using a single crystal diamond tool to completely remove the damage pit, produces the most consistent results to halt the growth of surface damage on DKDP. We obtained the successful mitigation of laser-initiated surface damage sites as large as 0.14 mm diameter, for up to 1000 shots at 351 nm and fluences in the range of 2 to 13 J/cm2, ≈ 11 ns pulse length. Data obtained to-date indicates that micro-machining is the preferred method to process large-aperture optics.
Precision microfabrication of diamond has many applications in the fields of microelectronics and cutting tools. In this work, and ultra-short pulsed Ti: Sapphire laser was used to perform patterning, hold drilling, and scribing of synthetic and CVD diamonds. Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, profilometry, and Raman spectroscopy were employed to characterize the microstructures. A tight-binding molecular dynamics (TBMD) model was used to investigate atomic movements during ablation and predict thresholds for ablation. The ultra- short pulsed laser generated holes and grooves that were nearly perfect with smooth edges, little collateral thermal damage and recast layer. The most exciting observation was the absence of graphite residue that always occurs in the longer-pulsed laser machining. The ablation threshold for ultra-short pulsed laser was two orders of magnitude lower than that of longer-pulsed laser. Finite-difference thermal modeling showed that ultra-short pulses raised the electron temperatures of diamond in excess of 100,ooo K due to multiphoton absorption, absence of hydrodynamic motion, and lack of time for energy transfer from electrons to the lattice during the pulse duration. TBMD simulations, carried out on (111) and (100) diamond surfaces, revealed that ultra-short pulses peel carbon atoms layer-by -layer from the surface, leaving a smooth surface after ablation. However, longer pulses cause thermal melting resulting in graphite residue that anchors to the diamond surface following ablation.
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