Comparative LIDT measurements of optical components for high-energy HiLASE lasers

Abstract

Further advancement of high-energy pulsed lasers requires a parallel development of appropriate optical components. Several different optical components, such as mirrors and antireflection-coated windows, which are essential for the design of HiLASE high average power lasers were tested. The following paper summarizes results on the measurements of laser-induced damage threshold of such components, and clearly shows their capabilities and limitations for such a demanding application.

Sub-picosecond 1030 nm laser-induced damage threshold evaluation of pulsed-laser deposited sesquioxide thin films

“…The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of optical components represents the limiting factor of the useful performance of ultrafast solid-state lasers. 1,2 To improve the LIDT of optical materials, especially optical coatings, considerable efforts have been made to test diverse materials, [3][4][5] develop new optimized coating designs, [6][7][8] and advanced fabrication methods. [9][10][11] Among the plethora of thin-film growth techniques, pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) is considered to be one of the most versatile and powerful.…”

Overview of ytterbium based transparent ceramics for diode pumped high energy solid-state lasers

“…Such low average power lasers do not satisfy the requirements for advanced applications such as laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Highly repetitive pulses with multi-joule energy are important for several applications [3] such as laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of optics [4] and in aerospace industries to improve the fatigue life of metals and alloys by laser shock peening (LSP) technique [5] . With such wide application fields, several research groups around the world have been involved in prototyping high repetition high energy lasers.…”