Nano-modification inside transparent materials by femtosecond laser single beam

Periodic nanostructures along the polarization direction of light are observed inside silica glasses and tellurium dioxide single crystal after irradiation by a focused single femtosecond laser beam. Backscattering electron images of the irradiated spot inside silica glass reveal a periodic structure of stripe-like regions of similar to 20 nm width with a low oxygen concentration. In the case of the tellurium dioxide single crystal, secondary electron images within the focal spot show the formation of a periodic structure of voids with 30 nm width. Oxygen defects in a silica glass and voids in a tellurium dioxide single crystal are aligned perpendicular to the laser polarization direction. These are the smallest nanostructures below the diffraction limit of light, which are formed inside transparent materials. The phenomenon is interpreted in terms of interference between the incident light field and the electric field of electron plasma wave generated in the bulk of material.

Laser-induced damage threshold of ZrO2 thin films prepared at different oxygen partial pressures by electron-beam evaporation

ZrO2, films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation with the oxygen partial pressure varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to I I X 10(-3) Pa. The phase structure of the samples was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal absorption of the films was measured by the surface thermal lensing technique. A spectrophotometer was employed to measure the refractive indices of the samples. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was assessed using a 1064, nm Nd: yttritium-aluminium-garnet pulsed laser at pulse width of 12 ns. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the microstructure and LIDT of ZrO2 films was investigated. XRD data revealed that the films changed from polycrystalline to amorphous as the oxygen partial pressure increased. The variation of refractive index at 550 nm wavelength indicated that the packing density of the films decreased gradually with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The absorptance of the samples decreased monotonically from 125.2 to 84.5 ppm with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The damage threshold, values increased from 18.5 to 26.7 J/cm(2) for oxygen partial pressures varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to 9 X 10(-3) Pa, but decreased to 17.3 J/cm(2) in the case of I I X 10(-3) Pa. (C) 2005 American Vacuum Society.

Laser-induced damage threshold of ZrO2 thin films prepared at different oxygen partial pressures by electron-beam evaporation

ZrO2, films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation with the oxygen partial pressure varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to I I X 10(-3) Pa. The phase structure of the samples was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal absorption of the films was measured by the surface thermal lensing technique. A spectrophotometer was employed to measure the refractive indices of the samples. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was assessed using a 1064, nm Nd: yttritium-aluminium-garnet pulsed laser at pulse width of 12 ns. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the microstructure and LIDT of ZrO2 films was investigated. XRD data revealed that the films changed from polycrystalline to amorphous as the oxygen partial pressure increased. The variation of refractive index at 550 nm wavelength indicated that the packing density of the films decreased gradually with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The absorptance of the samples decreased monotonically from 125.2 to 84.5 ppm with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The damage threshold, values increased from 18.5 to 26.7 J/cm(2) for oxygen partial pressures varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to 9 X 10(-3) Pa, but decreased to 17.3 J/cm(2) in the case of I I X 10(-3) Pa. (C) 2005 American Vacuum Society.

Influence of LiB3O5 structure on microstructure and optical properties of ZrO2, thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation

ZrO2 thin films were deposited bill using an electron beam evaporation technique on three kinds of lithium triborate (LiB3O5 or LBO) substrates with the surfaces at specified crystalline orientations. The influences of the LBO structure on the structural and optical properties of ZrO2 thin films are studied by spectrophotometer and x-ray diffraction. The results indicate that the substrate structure has obvious effects on the structural end optical properties of the film: namely. the ZrO2 thin film deposited on the X-LBO, Y-LBO and Z-LBO orients to m(-212), m(021) and o(130) directions. It is also found that the ZrO2 thin film with m(021) has the highest refractive index and the least lattice misfit.

Laser conditioning of ZrO2 : Y2O3/SiO2 mirror coatings prepared by E-beam evaporation

Laser conditioning effects of the dielectric mirror coatings with different designs were investigated. Simple quarter-wave ZrO2:Y2O3/SiO2 mirrors and half-wave SiO2 over-coated ZrO2:Y2O3/SiO2 mirror coatings were fabricated by E-beam evaporation (EBE). The absorbance of the samples before and after laser conditioning was measured by surface thermal lensing (STL) technology and the defects density was detected under Nomarski microscope. The enhancement of the laser damage resistance was found after laser conditioning. The dependence of the laser conditioning on the coating design was also observed and the over-coated sample obtained greatest enhancement, whereas the absorbance of the samples did not change obviously. During the sub-threshold fluence raster scanning, the minor damage about defects size was found and the assumption of pre-damage mechanism, based on the functional damage concept, was put forward. The improvement of the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) was attributed to the benign damage of the defects and the dependence on the coating design owed to the damage growth behavior of different coating designs. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Far-field intensity distribution of a beam generated by a resonator with a phase-unifying mirror

The far-field intensity distribution (FFID) of a beam generated by a phase-unifying mirror resonator was investigated based on scalar diffraction theory. Attention was paid to the parameters, such as obscuration ratio and reflectivity of the phase-unifying mirror, that determine the FFID. All analyses were limited to the TEM00 fundamental mode. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Far-field intensity distribution of beam generated by Gaussian mirror resonator

Based on scalar diffraction theory, we investigated far-field intensity distribution (FFID) of beam generated by Gaussian mirror resonator. We found usable analytical expressions of diffracted field with respect to variation of diffraction parameters. Particular attention was paid to the parameters such as mirror spot size and radius of the Gaussian mirror, which determine the FFID. All analyses were limited to TEM00 fundamental mode. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical, structural and laser-induced damage threshold properties of HfO2 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation

We prepare HfO2 thin films by electron beam evaporation technology. The samples are annealed in air after deposition. With increasing annealing temperature, it is found that the absorption of the samples decreases firstly and then increases. Also, the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) increases firstly and then decreases. When annealing temperature is 473K, the sample has the highest LIDT of 2.17J/cm(2), and the lowest absorption of 18 ppm. By investigating the optical and structural characteristics and their relations to LIDT, it is shown that the principal factor dominating the LIDT is absorption.

Propagation properties of a hard-edged diffracted beam generated by a Gaussian mirror resonator

Based on the scalar diffraction theory, the propagation and focusing properties of a hard-edged diffracted beam generated by a Gaussian mirror resonator were investigated. Explicit expressions for the field distribution of the truncated beam that propagates through a paraxial optical ABCD system were derived in detail. Numerical examples are given to illustrate our analytical results. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Propagation properties of beam generated by Gaussian mirror resonator

Based on scalar diffraction theory, propagation properties of beam generated by Gaussian mirror resonator were investigated. Explicit expressions for the field distribution of the beam that propagate through a paraxial optical ABCD system were derived and numerical examples were given to illustrate our analytical results. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonpolarizing beam splitter designed by frustrated total internal reflection inside a glass cube

A method for the design of an all-dielectric nonpolarizing prism beam splitter utilizing the principle of frustrated total internal reflection is reported. The nonpolarizing condition for a prism beam splitter is discussed, and some single layer design examples are elaborated. The concept can be applied to a wide range of wavelengths and arbitrary transmittance values, and with the help of a computer design program examples of 400-700 nm, T-p = T-p = 0.5 +/- 0.01, with incident angles of 45 degrees and 62 degrees are given. In addition, the sensitivity and application of the design are also discussed. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 thin films deposited by electron beam evaporation: Structural, morphological characterization and laser induced damage threshold

Four kinds of Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) thin films with different Y2O3 content have been prepared on BK7 substrates by electron-beam evaporation method. Structural properties and surface morphology of thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra and scanning probe microscope. Laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) was determined. It was found that crystalline phase and microstructure of YSZ thin films was dependent on Y2O3 molar content. YSZ thin films changed from monoclinic phase to high temperature phase (tetragonal and cubic) with the increase of Y2O3 content. The LIDT of stabilized thin film is more than that of unstabilized thin films. The reason is that ZrO2 material undergoes phase transition during the course of e-beam evaporation resulting in more numbers of defects compared to that of YSZ thin films. These defects act as absorptive center and the original breakdown points. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation on the properties of high reflective mirror prepared by ion-beam sputtering

The single-sided and dual-sided high reflective mirrors were deposited with ion-beam sputtering (IBS). When the incident light entered with 45 degrees, the reflectance of p-polarized light at 1064 nm exceeded 99.5%. Spectrum was gained by spectrometer and weak absorption of coatings was measured by surface thermal lensing (STL) technique. Laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was determined and the damage morphology was observed with Lecia-DMRXE microscope simultaneously. The profile of coatings was measured with Mark III-GPI digital interferometer. It was found that the reflectivity of mirror exceeded 99.9% and its absorption was as low as 14 ppm. The reflective bandwidth of the dual-sided sample was about 43 nm wider than that of single-sided sample, and its LIDT was as high as 28 J/cm2, which was 5 J/cm2 higher than that of single-sided sample. Moreover, the profile of dual-sided sample was better than that of substrate without coatings.

High laser-induced damage threshold HfO2 films prepared by ion-assisted electron beam evaporation

HfO2 films were deposited by electron beam evaporation with different deposition parameters. The properties such as refractive index, weak absorption, and laser induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) of these films have been investigated. It was found that when pulsed Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser is used to investigate LIDT of films: Metallic character is the main factor that influences LIDTs of films obtained from Hf starting material by ion-assisted reaction, and films prepared with higher momentum transfer parameter P have fewer metallic character; The ion-assisted reaction parameters are key points for preparing high LIDT films and if the parameters are chose properly, high LIDT films can be obtained. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Annealing effects on electron-beam evaporated Al2O3 films

The effects of post-deposited annealing on structure and optical properties of electron-beam evaporated Al2O3 single layers were investigated. The films were annealed in air for 1.5 h at different temperatures from 250 to 400 degrees C. The optical constants and cut-off wavelength were deduced. Microstructure of the samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Profile and surface roughness measurement instrument was used to determine the rms surface roughness. It was found that the cut-off wavelength shifted to short wavelength as the annealing temperature increased and the total optical loss decreased. The film structure remained amorphous even after annealing at 400 degrees C temperature and the samples annealed at higher temperature had the higher rms surface roughness. The decreasing total optical loss with annealing temperature was attributed to the reduction of absorption owing to oxidation of the film by annealing. Guidance to reduce the optical loss of excimer laser mirrors was given. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.