The role of defects in laser-induced modifications of silica coatings and fused silica using picosecond pulses at 1053 nm: I. Damage morphology

Dynamic behavior modeling of laser-induced damage initiated by surface defects on KDP crystals under nanosecond laser irradiation

The issue of laser-induced damage of transparent dielectric optics has severely limited the development of high-power laser systems. Exploring the transient dynamic behaviors of laser damage on KDP surface by developing multi-physics coupling dynamics model is an important way to reveal the mechanism of nanosecond laser damage. In this work, KDP crystals are taken as an example to explore the mechanism of laser-induced surface damage. Based on the theories of electromagnetic field, heat conduction and fluid dynamics, a multi-physics coupling dynamics model is established for describing the evolution of nanosecond damage processes. The dynamics of laser energy transmission, thermal field distribution and damage morphology during nanosecond laser irradiation are simulated with this model. It is found that the enhancement of light intensity caused by surface defect plays an important role in the initial energy deposition and damage initiation of the laser irradiation area. The evolution of temperature field and crater morphology during subsequent laser irradiation is helpful to understand the laser damage process. The feasibility of this model is verified by the morphology information of typical defect-induced laser damage. This work provides further insights in explaining the laser-induced damage by surface defects on KDP crystals. The model can be also applied to investigate the laser damage mechanisms of other transparent dielectric optics.

Contrasted fatigue behavior of laser-induced damage mechanisms in single layer ZrO2 optical coating

The decrease of laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) when exposed with high number of laser pulses is a well-known phenomenon in dielectrics. In the femtosecond regime this fatigue is usually attributed to the incubation of laser-induced lattice defects. In this work, a computational model is used to combine the data from time-resolved digital holographic microscopy measurements together with results of S-on-1 laser-induced damage threshold test in order to investigate fatigue of ZrO ₂ single layer coating. Two distinct damage modes were identified and shown to follow different fatigue behaviors: formation of catastrophic damage is highly nonlinear in time, while incubation of color-change mode appears to be linear in time.

Accurate measurement for damage evolution of ceramics caused by nanosecond laser pulses with polarization spectrum imaging

Due to the interference of excitation lights and the perturbation of spattered particles, it is very difficult to detect the real-time evolution of ceramics damaged by pulsed laser. In this paper, a metrology "on-line detection of damage identification via the polarization spectrum imaging" is proposed to realize the real-time observation for damage evolution of ceramic composite irradiated by the laser. In this metrology, the detection principle is based on a mathematical model of polarization bidirectional reflectance distribution function. According to the Stokes vector analysis method, the damage law of the material surface under the continuous activating illuminations of multiple laser pulses and the increase of pulse energy is theoretically deduced and analyzed first, then the measured polarization spectra are compared with the microscopic imaging method to extract the edge texture information, and further the damage details are characterized with this metrology under the typical polarization parameters: I, Q, U, V, DOP and AOP. As a result, the damaging degree of ceramic composite irradiated by the 1064nm nanosecond pulsed laser, which is changed from the pulse power of 155.54 mJ and 14 pulses to 217.94 mJ and 1 pulse, can be identified with a series of polarization parameters in the different polarization spectrum images. These polarization parameters and their derived results reflect the physical and chemical evolutive properties including of texture orientation of the target surface that is different from other methods of damage detection. Finally, it can be concluded that this paper provides a new method for real-time detection of laser damage and lays a foundation for detection and identification under other strong light interference.

Mechanisms of picosecond laser-induced damage in common multilayer dielectric coatings

The physical mechanisms and ensuing material modification associated with laser-induced damage in multilayer dielectric high reflectors is investigated for pulses between 0.6 and 100 ps. We explore low-loss multilayer dielectric SiO₂/HfO₂ mirrors which are commonly employed in petawatt-class laser systems. The spatial features of damage sites are precisely characterized, enabling the direct correlation of the observed damage morphology to the location of energy deposition and the corresponding standing-wave electric-field intensities within the layer structure. The results suggest that there are three discrete damage-initiation morphologies arising from distinctly different mechanisms: the first prevailing at laser pulse lengths shorter than about 2.3 ps, while the other two are observed for longer pulses. Modeling of the thermomechanical response of the material to localized laser-energy deposition was performed for each type of damage morphology to better understand the underlying mechanisms of energy deposition and subsequent material response.

Polarization dependent laser damage growth of optical coatings at sub-picosecond regime

We report the influence of polarization on the damage mechanism of oxide thin films submitted to multiple pulses in the sub-picosecond regime. We have exposed single layer coatings of oxide materials and multilayer stacks (mirrors) to multiple laser pulses at 1030nm, 500fs, and the events on the tested sample sites were recorded in situ with high resolution microscopy. For multiple shots while keeping the fluence below the single shot threshold, damage on the film begins to form and for some of the samples the damage growth follows polarization dependent patterns. This damage growth was investigated and our results match with the assumption that the existence of nano-defects contributes to the early stage of the formation of damage, in which the energy absorption in a defect site causes local nanoablation at a laser fluence under the intrinsic ablation threshold and nanovoid formation. Based on the simulation of the interference of the scattered wave by the nanovoid with the incident wave, we obtain good correlation between simulated and observed damage growth behavior. This process leads to the formation of specific damage morphology that is strongly dependent on the polarization of the incident wave.