CVD-grown diamond: a new material for high-power CO2 lasers

Mathieu Massart; Piet Union; G. A. Scarsbrook; Ricardo S. Sussmann; Peter F. Muys

doi:10.1117/12.240393

27 May 1996 CVD-grown diamond: a new material for high-power CO₂ lasers

Mathieu Massart, Piet Union, G. A. Scarsbrook, Ricardo S. Sussmann, Peter F. Muys

Proceedings Volume 2714, 27th Annual Boulder Damage Symposium: Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1995; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.240393
Event: Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1995, 1995, Boulder, CO, United States

Abstract

In CO₂ laser engineering, combining high output power with low distortion of the laser beam is an ongoing challenge, leading to a search for optics with low absorption and high thermal conductivity. As CVD diamond has recently become available in larger sizes and with better surface quality, this material can now be assessed for use in high power CO₂ laser optics. This paper presents the systematic study of diamond as a substrate material for optics at 10.6 microns. CO₂-laser calorimetry has been used for the measurement of absorption of laser power in uncoated and antireflection coated diamond optics. The bulk absorption coefficient of natural and CVD diamond is more than a magnitude higher than that of ZnSe, however, a laser window needs to be antireflection coated, and this (together with the ability to use thinner windows of diamond because of its greater strength) reduces the increase in overall absorption for the window to about a factor of three (or approximately 7%). In high power applications this is more than compensated for by the substantially higher thermal conductivity of diamond. Laser induced damage threshold measurements have been made on antireflection coated diamond optics. These measurements have been performed using a TEA CO₂-laser with a peak pulse width of 150 ns at 10.6 microns, and the results are reported here.

Citation Download Citation

Mathieu Massart, Piet Union, G. A. Scarsbrook, Ricardo S. Sussmann, and Peter F. Muys "CVD-grown diamond: a new material for high-power CO₂ lasers", Proc. SPIE 2714, 27th Annual Boulder Damage Symposium: Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1995, (27 May 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.240393

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