Mitigation of laser damage on National Ignition Facility optics in volume production

James Folta; Mike Nostrand; John Honig; Nan Wong; Frank Ravizza; Paul Geraghty; Mike Taranowski; Gary Johnson; Glenn Larkin; Doug Ravizza; John Peterson; Brian Welday; Paul Wegner

doi:10.1117/12.2030475

2 December 2013 Mitigation of laser damage on National Ignition Facility optics in volume production

James Folta, Mike Nostrand, John Honig, Nan Wong, Frank Ravizza, Paul Geraghty, Mike Taranowski, Gary Johnson, Glenn Larkin, Doug Ravizza, John Peterson, Brian Welday, Paul Wegner

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8885, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2013; 88850Z (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2030475
Event: SPIE Laser Damage, 2013, Boulder, Colorado, United States

Abstract

The National Ignition Facility has recently achieved the milestone of delivering over 1.8 MJ and 500 TW of 351 nm laser energy and power on target, which required average fluences up to 9 J/cm² (3 ns equivalent) in the final optics system. Commercial fused silica laser-grade UV optics typically have a maximum operating threshold of 5 J/cm². We have developed an optics recycling process which enables NIF to operate above the laser damage initiation and growth thresholds. We previously reported a method to mitigate laser damage with laser ablation of the damage site to leave benign cone shaped pits. We have since developed a production facility with four mitigation systems capable of performing the mitigation protocols on full-sized (430 mm) optics in volume production. We have successfully repaired over 700 NIF optics (unique serial numbers), some of which have been recycled as many as 11 times. We describe the mitigation systems, the optics recycle loop process, and optics recycle production data.

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James Folta, Mike Nostrand, John Honig, Nan Wong, Frank Ravizza, Paul Geraghty, Mike Taranowski, Gary Johnson, Glenn Larkin, Doug Ravizza, John Peterson, Brian Welday, and Paul Wegner "Mitigation of laser damage on National Ignition Facility optics in volume production", Proc. SPIE 8885, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2013, 88850Z (2 December 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2030475

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