Influence of electric field distribution on laser-induced damage threshold and morphology of high-reflectance optical coatings

G. Abromavicius; R. Buzelis; R. Drazdys; A. Melninkaitis; V. Sirutkaitis

doi:10.1117/12.752902

20 December 2007 Influence of electric field distribution on laser induced damage threshold and morphology of high reflectance optical coatings

G. Abromavicius, R. Buzelis, R. Drazdys, A. Melninkaitis, V. Sirutkaitis

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6720, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2007; 67200Y (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.752902
Event: Boulder Damage Symposium XXXIX: Annual Symposium on Optical Materials for High Power Lasers, 2007, Boulder, Colorado, United States

Abstract

Various investigations show that damage threshold of optical coatings by intense ultrashort laser pulses is closely related to the intensity of electric field at layer interfaces. LIDT measurements of high reflectance optical coatings using femtosecond pulses at 800 nm wavelength are presented. ZrO₂, HfO₂ and Ta₂O₅ as high refractive index materials for two sets of experiments were chosen. Two different coating designs were investigated: standard quarter-wavelength design with SiO₂ overcoat and modified "E-field" non quarter-wavelength design with suppressed electric field. Damage sites were studied using optical and AFM microscopes. Relation between electric field distribution and damage morphology was observed. The results demonstrate, that suppressing electric field at layer interfaces enables to increase LIDT for high reflectance coatings almost twice if compared to standard quarter-wavelength design when using ultrashort laser pulses. However electric field distribution is sensitive to variations in thicknesses of outer layers, so deposition process should be precisely controlled to get improvement in LIDT of coatings.

Citation Download Citation

G. Abromavicius, R. Buzelis, R. Drazdys, A. Melninkaitis, and V. Sirutkaitis "Influence of electric field distribution on laser induced damage threshold and morphology of high reflectance optical coatings", Proc. SPIE 6720, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2007, 67200Y (20 December 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.752902

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