Subsurface damage of Nd-doped phosphate glasses in optical fabrication

We present a destructive method for detecting and measuring subsurface damage of Nd-doped phosphate glasses. An instrument based on the dimple method - a destructive method - was developed. Subsurface damage depth produced in each fabrication procedure was obtained. We extend the surface roughness-subsurface damage relation to Nd-doped phosphate glasses. The constant ratio of subsurface damage and surface roughness was obtained as well. We also analyse the relation of abrasive size and subsurface damage experimentally. From a measurement of the surface roughness or abrasive size, one can obtain an accurate estimate of the damage layer thickness that must be eliminated by polishing or subsequent grinding operations. (C) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Effects of CO2 laser conditioning of the antireflection Y2O3/SiO2 coatings at 351 nm

Y2O3/SiO2 coatings were deposited on fused silica by electron beam evaporation. A continuous wave CO2 laser was used to condition parts of the prepared samples at different scanning speeds in the air. LAMBDA 900 spectrometer was used to investigate the changes of the transmittance and residual reflection spectrum. A Nomarski microscope under dark field was used to examine the changes of the micro defect density. The changes of the surface roughness and the microstructure of the film before and after conditioning were investigated by AFM and X-ray diffraction, respectively. We found that laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the films conditioning at 30 mm/s scanning speed was increased by more than a factor of 3 over the thresholds of the as-deposited films. The conditioning effect was correlated with an irradiation-induced decrease of the defect density and absorption of the films. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Subsurface damage in optical substrates

The origin, character, analysis and treatment of subsurface damage (SSD) were summarized in this paper. SSD, which was introduced to substrates by manufacture processes, may bring about the decrease of laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of substrates and thin films. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods for the measurement of SSD were used extensively because of their conveniences and reliabilities. The principle, experimental setup and some other technological details were given for total internal reflection microscopy (TIRM), high-frequency scanning acoustic microscopy (HFSAM) and laser-modulated scattering (LMS). However, the spatial resolution, probing depth and theoretic models of these NDE methods demanded further studies. Furthermore, effective surface treatments for minimizing or eliminating SSD were also presented in this paper. Both advantages and disadvantages of ion beam etching (IBE) and magnetorheological finishing (MRF) were discussed. Finally, the key problems and research directions of SSD were summarized. (c) 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

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.

钛宝石强激光负载的有机硅复合凝胶增透膜研究

以硅酸四乙酯(TEOS)和甲基三乙氧基硅烷(MTEOS)为前驱材料，用溶胶-凝胶(sol-gel)方法在钛宝石表面制备得到均匀性良好且具有高激光损伤阈值的有机硅复合凝胶增透膜。膜层在钛宝石激光器输出波段(750～850nm)的增透效果显著，其平均透过率超过98．6％；激光破坏阈值为2．2J／cm^2(800nm，300ps)；膜层表面均匀性达到激光波面的要求，在皮秒、飞秒超短脉冲高功率激光领域具有应用价值。溶胶的性能测试结果表明，溶胶粘度和成膜折射率均随溶液中CH3SiO1.5溶胶体含量的增加而增大，而膜

高激光损伤阈值溶胶-凝胶ZrO2薄膜

采用醇热法水解氧氯化锆（ZrOCl2·8H2O）制备ZrO2溶胶，提拉法涂膜。采用粘度、粒度分布、折射率、IR、DSC、AFM等测试手段对溶胶和薄膜性能进行表征。结果表明，ZrO2溶胶颗粒的平均粒径为18．9nm，薄膜经300℃热处理后折射率可高达1．95，膜层表面均匀平整，表面平均粗糙度仅为0．561nm，膜层的激光损伤阈值为14J／cm^2（1064nm，1ns）。

固着磨料加工工艺对磷酸盐钕玻璃亚表面缺陷的影响

散粒磨料研磨与固着磨料研磨是光学研磨加工过程中的两种主要手段,但两者材料去除的机制不同。目前针对高功率固体激光装置中的主要工作物质——磷酸盐激光钕玻璃的亚表面缺陷(SSD)研究相对较少,因此在实验的基础上,通过系统地研究固着磨料对磷酸盐激光钕玻璃的研磨工艺过程,分析了多种因素,如磨料粒径、载荷大小、机床转速,以及结合剂材料与冷却液等对钕玻璃亚表面缺陷形成的影响,并与散粒磨料研磨工艺所产生的亚表面缺陷进行了比较,对关键工艺参数进行定量,为高质量钕玻璃制造工艺的选型以及进一步优化亚表面缺陷提供了重要的参考数据。

磷酸盐钕玻璃表面/亚表面损伤特性实验研究

系统地研究了光学研磨过程中,磨料粒径、载荷大小以及机床转速对钕玻璃表面及亚表面损伤的影响。结果表明,机床转速和载荷基本不改变材料表面粗糙度,而较大载荷或较低机床转速产生较大的亚表面缺陷,表面粗糙度和亚表面缺陷缺陷深度基本与最大磨料粒径呈正比,载荷增倍使亚表面缺陷与表面粗糙度的常数比值增加0.05。研究结果为钕玻璃加工工艺改进提供了参考依据。

A New theory for evaluating the number density of inclusions in films

A new formulation derived from thermal characters of inclusions and host films for estimating laser induced damage threshold has been deduced. This formulation is applicable for dielectric films when they are irradiated by laser beam with pulse width longer than tens picoseconds. This formulation can interpret the relationship between pulse-width and damage threshold energy density of laser pulse obtained experimentally. Using this formulation, we can analyze which kind of inclusion is the most harmful inclusion. Combining it with fractal distribution of inclusions, we have obtained an equation which describes relationship between number density of inclusions and damage probability. Using this equation, according to damage probability and corresponding laser energy density, we can evaluate the number density and distribution in size dimension of the most harmful inclusions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

应用离子后处理技术提高薄膜激光损伤阈值

利用电子束热蒸发方法在K9玻璃基底上沉积氧化锆薄膜,并对其中一些样品用低能O2^+进行了后处理.采用表面热透镜技术测量薄膜样品表面弱吸收,采用显微镜观察样品离子后处理前后的显微缺陷密度.测试结果表明:经离子后处理样品表面的缺陷密度从18.6/mm^2降低到6.2/mm^2,且其激光损伤阈值从15.9 J/cm^2提高到23.1 J/cm^2,样品的平均吸收率从处理前的1.147×10^-4降低到处理后的9.56×10^-5.通过对处理前后样品的表面微缺陷密度、吸收率及损伤形貌等的分析发现:离子后处理可以降

氧分压对ZrO2薄膜激光损伤阈值的影响

在不同的氧分压下用电子束热蒸发的方法制备了ZrO2薄膜。分别通过X射线衍射、光学光谱、热透镜技术、抗激光辐照等测试，对所制备样品的微结构、折射率、吸收率及激光损伤阈值进行了测量。实验结果表明，薄膜中晶粒主要是四方相为主的多晶结构，并且随着氧分压的增加，结晶度、折射率以及弱吸收均逐渐降低。薄膜的激光损伤阈值开始随着氧分压增加从18．5J／cm^2逐渐增加，氧分压为9×10^-3Pa时达到最大，值为26．7J／cm^2，氧分压再增加时则又降低到17．5J／cm^2。由此可见，氧分压引起的薄膜微结构变化是ZrO

Design and properties analysis of multi-layer dielectric used in pulse compressor gratings

Used in chirped-pulse amplification system and based on multi-layer thin film stack, pulse compressor gratings (PCG) are etched by ion-beam and holographic techniques. Diffraction efficiency and laser-induced damage threshold rely on the structural parameters of gratings. On the other hand, they depend greatly on the design of multi-layer. A theoretic design is given for dielectric multi-layer, which is exposed at 413.1 nm and used at 1053 nm. The influences of coating design on optical characters are described in detail. The analysis shows that a coating stack of H3L (H2L) (boolean AND) 9H0.5L2.01H meets the specifications of PCG well. And there is good agreement of transmission between experimental and the theoretic design. (c) 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

脉宽压缩光栅用的多层膜设计和性能分析

应用于啁啾脉冲放大技术中的脉宽压缩光栅是基于多层膜作为基底，利用全息干涉技术和离子束技术刻蚀而成。脉宽压缩光栅的衍射效率和抗激光损伤阈值一方面依赖于光栅结构的设计，另一方面很大程度上取决于作为基底的多层膜的设计。给出了以413．1nm作为写入波长，1053nm作为使用波长的多层介质光栅膜的设计．样品在ZZS-800F、型真空镀膜机上采用电子束蒸发方式沉积而成，并给出了膜系结构对光学性能影响因素的详细分析，结果表明膜系H3L(H2L)^9H0．5L2．03H满足光栅膜的指标。给出了样品光学特性测试，其使用波

Optimization of near-field optical field of multi-layer dielectric gratings for pulse compressor

Multi-layer dielectric (MLD) gratings for pulse compressors in high-energy laser systems should provide high diffraction efficiency as well as high laser induced damage thresholds (LIDT). Nonuniform optical near-field distribution is one of the important factors to limit their damage resistant capabilities. Electric field distributions in the gratings and multi-layer film region are analyzed by using Fourier modal method. Optimization of peak electric field in the gratings ridge is performed with a merit function, including both diffraction efficiency and electric field enhancement when the top layer material is HfO2 and SiO2, respectively. A set of optimized gratings parameters is obtained for each structure, which reduce the peak electric field within the gratings ridge to being respective 1.39 and 1.84 times the value of incident light respectively. Finally, we also discuss the effects of gratings refractive index, gratings sidewall angle and incident angle on peak electric field in the gratings ridge. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of Al2O3/MgF2 HR coatings at 355 nm

With the present work we tried to study the effective methods to improve the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) and reflectance of HR coatings at 355 nm. The work presented in this paper wits part of an ongoing study about vacuum annealing. It was dedicated to study the effects Of Vacuum annealing with different temperature gradients on the structure, optical properties and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of 355nm Al2O3/MgF2HR coatings. A number of samples were prepared by electron beam evaporation using the same deposition process with an optimal deposition temperature of 280 degrees C. After deposition, samples were annealed in the coating chamber for 3 h with different temperature gradients. Morphologies of the samples were observed by Leica-DMRXE. Microscope, Structure of the samples had been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Transmittance and reflectance of the samples were measured by Lambda 900 Spectrometer, The LIDT of the samples was measured by a 355 nm Nd:YAG laser with a pulse width of 8 ns. It was found that the temperature gradient of vacuum annealing had significant effects on the morphology, structure, absorption, and LIDT of the samples, (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.