High fluence laser damage precursors and their mitigation in fused silica

摘要: The use of any optical material is limited at high fluences by laser-induced damage to surfaces. In many materials, the results from a series sources which initiate large range and intensities. Much progress has been made recently eliminating silica surface due fracture-related precursors relatively low (i.e., less than 10 J/cm2, when damaged 355 nm, 5 ns pulses). At higher fluence, most materials are other classes exhibit strong threshold behavior areal density (>105 cm−2); we refer these collectively as fluence precursors. Here, show that variety nominally transparent in trace quantities can act We minimizing presence precipitates during chemical processing, reduce more 100 times while shifting onset observable about 7 J/cm2. A better understanding complex chemistry physics cleaning, rinsing, drying will likely lead even further improvements performance potentially materials.