Fabrication, characteristics, and performance of diamond mirrors for vacuum ultraviolet excimer lasers

Abstract

We have deposited crystalline diamond films on sintered Si 3 N 4 substrates with a conventional hot-filament method and further finished the surfaces with a diamond lapping method. The diamond mirrors fabricated are proposed and demonstrated as among the most promising mirrors for vacuum ultraviolet rare-gas excimer lasers. We have obtained pulses with 15-mJ energy, 2.7-MW peak power, and 6-ns duration at 126 nm from an argon excimer laser, and with 70 mJ, 5.5 MW, and 5 ns at 146 nm from a krypton excimer laser without any surface damage. The latter values are the highest so far obtained