Direct and absolute absorption measurements in optical materials and coatings by laser induced deflection (LID) technique

Abstract

Different strategies of the laser induced deflection (LID) technique for direct and absolute absorption measurements are presented. Besides selected strategies for bulk and coating absorption measurements, respectively, a new strategy is introduced allowing the transfer of the LID technique to very small samples and to significantly increase the sensitivity for materials with a very weak photo-thermal response. Additionally, an emphasis is placed on the importance of the calibration procedure. The electrical calibration of the LID setup is compared to two other approaches that use either doped samples or highly absorptive reference samples in combination with numerical simulations. Applying the LID technique, we report on the characterization of AR coated LBO crystals used in high power NIR/VIS laser applications. The comparison of different LBO crystals shows that there are significant differences in both, the AR coating and the LBO bulk absorption. These differences are much larger at 515 nm than at 1030 nm. Absorption spectroscopy measurements combining LID technique with a high power OPO laser system indicate that the coating process affects the LBO bulk absorption properties. Furthermore, the change of the absorption upon 1030 nm laser irradiation of a Nd:YVO 4 laser crystal is investigated and compared to recent results. Finally, Ytterbium doped silica raw materials for high power fiber lasers are characterized with respect to the absorption induced attenuation at 1550 nm in order to compare these data with the total attenuation obtained for the subsequently manufactured laser active fibers.