Abstract
Single and multiple pulse laser damage studies are performed in Suprasil silica and BK-7 borosilicate glasses. Experiments are made in the bulk of materials at 1.064microm with nanosecond pulses, using an accurate and reliable measurement system. By means of a statistical study on laser damage probabilities, we demonstrate that the same nano-precursors could be involved in the multiple shot and single shot damage process. A damage mechanism with two stages is then proposed to explain the results. Firstly, a pre-damage process, corresponding to material changes at a microscopic level, leads the precursor to a state that can induce a one-pulse damage. And secondly a final damage occurs, with a mechanism identical to the single shot case. For each material, a law is found to predict the precursor life-time. We can then deduce the long term life of optical elements in high-power laser systems submitted to multipulse irradiation.
Highlights
IntroductionLaser-induced damage threshold can decrease with multiple pulse irradiation
In some optical materials, laser-induced damage threshold can decrease with multiple pulse irradiation
We showed that the precursors involved in the multiple shot damage process can be the same as the ones involved in the single shot process
Summary
Laser-induced damage threshold can decrease with multiple pulse irradiation This phenomenon, often called ”fatigue” laser-induced damage, has been observed and studied in different transparent materials such as polymers [1], crystalline solids [2, 3, 4] and glasses [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. It is a strong limitation for many high-power laser applications, where optical elements are submitted to a large number of pulses. There is not a commonly accepted and demonstrated mechanism of the multi-pulse subthreshold laser damage
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