Laser-Induced Bulk Damage of Various Types of Silica Glasses with Fundamental and Higher Harmonics of Nd:YAG Laser

Abstract

The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of various types of silica glass at 1064, 532, 355, and 266 nm was investigated. At 1064 nm, no difference in the LIDT was observed for all samples. In the range of 1064–355 nm, LIDTs of synthetic fused silica (SFS) were proportional to λ0.5, where λ is the wavelength. The LIDTs at 532 and 355 nm of fused quartz (FQ) and SFS containing 1000 ppm of Cl and no OH at 355 nm were slightly less than those of other SFSs. The mechanism of bulk damage at the 266 nm beam must be different from that at a longer wavelength, because the LIDT is considerably smaller than that of the value extrapolated from the λ0.5 dependence of SFS.