Multilayer Dielectric Mirrors Research Articles

Pulse duration dependent effects of ultrafast laser induced damage on a 1030 nm multi-layer dielectric mirror for high repetition rate, high average power laser systems

High repetition rate, high peak, and average power laser systems are crucial for next-generation particle accelerators, inertial confinement fusion, and secondary particle sources. These applications demand durable laser optics, particularly interference coatings on optics lasting millions of shots at high fluence. This study focuses on designing, testing, and simulating multi-layer dielectric (MLD) mirrors for pulse durations of 260 fs, 77 fs, and 25 fs at 1030 nm wavelength and 45-degree incidence angle with p-polarization. S-on-1 laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDT) for varying pulse numbers were determined, with single-shot LIDT values of 0.98 Jcm-2, 1.63 Jcm-2, and 2.3 Jcm-2 for 25 fs, 77 fs, and 260 fs respectively. A strong correlation between blister shape and local fluence was observed, implying that the layer expansion in a blister depends on local fluence. We have also examined mechanisms responsible for laser-induced stress generation and energy release rates in blister formation. Damage mechanisms are further explored by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, incorporating Keldysh strong field ionization, whose predictions were in excellent agreement with the onset of damage determined experimentally. These findings offer insights for enhancing MLD coating technology, promising more efficient and resilient laser systems for diverse scientific and industrial applications.

Reflections of linearly polarized electromagnetic waves from a multilayer periodic mirror

Objectives. The purpose of the article is to carry out a theoretical and experimental study of the angular reflection spectrum of linearly polarized electromagnetic waves from a multilayer periodic mirror on a transparent substrate to exact analytical expressions for reflection and transmission coefficients generalizing the cases of incidence of plane transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes on limited periodically structured media with a stepped refractive index profile.Methods. The theoretical analysis of the reflection problem is based on the search for exact analytical solutions in the form of Floquet–Bloch waves presented in the form of inhomogeneous waves in the domain of periodically structured media. On the basis of the possible existence of a single Floquet–Bloch wave in a limited onedimensional photonic crystal, it is proposed to search for exact solutions of the wave equation in the form of a linear combination of inhomogeneous waves propagating in different directions. By using the canonical forms of the considered periodic structures, it is possible to carry out the simple transition from the case of TE polarization to TM type in dispersion relations and expressions for the angular reflection spectrum.Results. Cases of reflection of linearly polarized radiation are considered for the following cases: a flat boundary of two dielectrics, a thin plane-parallel plate, and a multilayer dielectric mirror. Exact analytical expressions for the reflection and transmission coefficients generalizing the cases of incidence of TE and TM polarizations waves on a limited one-dimensional photonic crystal are obtained. The transmission coefficients of a plane TE wave from a multilayer dielectric mirror sputtered on thin glass were experimentally measured.Conclusions. A quantitative and qualitative agreement of experimental measurements of the transmission coefficient of a plane wave incident from a half-space on a confined photonic crystal with theoretical calculations is obtained. The obtained expressions for the transmission coefficient of a confined one-dimensional photonic crystal, which are shown to be determined by the interference of Floquet–Bloch waves presented in the form of inhomogeneous waves, can be reduced to a form analogous to the expression for the value of the transmission coefficient of a traditional Fabry–Pérot interferometer. In the case of TM polarization, when the Brewster condition is fulfilled at the interlayer boundaries, the Floquet–Bloch wave has the form of homogeneous plane waves in the layers of a photonic crystal.

Multishot laser damage of multilayer dielectric mirrors in the near-infrared subpicosecond regime

The laser damage resistance of dielectric components of high-power laser facilities to laser irradiation depends significantly on the irradiation sequence. In the short pulse (fs) regime, it is known that continuous irradiation of these components leads to a reduction in the damage threshold, reflecting a laser fatigue effect. Conversely, in the long pulse (ns) regime, progressive irradiation of these components leads to an increase in the damage threshold, reflecting a laser conditioning effect. In this article, we experimentally evaluate the competition between the effects of laser fatigue and laser conditioning for multilayer dielectric components irradiated in the subpicosecond pulse regime in the infrared (∼1µm) through different test sequences. For this purpose, we implemented an original test sequence derived from an S-on-1 type protocol, which consists of irradiating the component until damage. By repeating this sequence at different set points, it was possible to estimate the progressive reduction in damage threshold with the number of laser irradiations and to compare it with that observed during the fluence ramps. Particular attention was also paid to the precise knowledge of the test beam irradiating the component, as a dependence of the beam surface on the test set point was highlighted.

From design to realization of high diffraction efficiency Littrow configuration diffraction gratings based on multilayer dielectric mirrors patterned with electron beam lithography

Diffraction efficiency (DE) and laser-induced damage threshold of Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system diffraction gratings (DGs) are one of the main limiting factors for the anticipated progress of high peak power lasers. Optimization of a high reflectivity dielectric multilayer ZrO2/SiO2 stack mirror with a DG etched in the top SiO2 layer was carried out employing the Rigorous coupled wave analysis method. Two families of solutions possessing DE > 0.99 over the bandwidth of the 1030 nm wavelength ultrashort laser and withstanding different fabrication margins were identified for the Littrow configuration. DGs were produced and verified experimentally. Structures permitting variation in both the depth of the DG and filling factor without loss in DE were obtained for the 690 nm thick SiO2 layer. While the 770 nm thick layer permitted separation of the two parameters requiring either rigorous control of the DG depth or filling factor. DG realization technology was proposed employing electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching. Measurements of the fabricated structures demonstrated 0.91 DE for the first diffraction order over the 60 nm bandwidth and under a 6° mounting error from the Littrow configuration. Spectral angular reflectance DE simulations and respective measurements indicated quantitative agreement. The work provides an integrated overview of high DE periodic structure numerical optimization and manufacturing roadmap which could be applied for the high-peak-power laser CPA system development.

Solar-pumped fiber laser using a solid-state luminescent solar collector.

We have developed a fully planar solar-pumped fiber laser using a solid-state luminescent solar collector (LSC). This laser does not use any focusing device, such as a lens or mirror; thus, it can lase without tracking the sun. Our developed device with an aperture of 30 cm emits 15 mW, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 0.023% and a collection efficiency of 0.21 W/m2. A 12-fold improvement over a previously developed liquid LSC is achieved by combining the total internal reflection of the solid-state LSC with dielectric multilayer mirrors. The observed laser power is in good agreement with that predicted via numerical simulation, demonstrating the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Development of High‐Reflectivity and Antireflection Dielectric Multilayer Mirrors for AlGaN‐Based Ultraviolet‐B Laser Diodes and their Device Applications

Fabrication techniques for high‐reflectivity (HR) and antireflection (AR) dielectric multilayer mirrors for AlGaN‐based ultraviolet‐B (UV‐B) laser diodes are developed. After depositing several dielectric materials and evaluating their complex refractive indices via ellipsometry, it is determined that SiO2 as a low‐refractive‐index material and Ta2O5 as a high‐refractive‐index material are appropriate material combinations in the UV‐B region at a light wavelength of ≈300 nm due to their low extinction coefficients and large refractive index difference. Based on these results, HR mirror with a reflectance of >99% in the UV‐B region at a center wavelength of 310 nm and an AR mirror with a reflectance of ≈8% in the same wavelength range are demonstrated; a mirror with reflectance that is almost equal to the designed value is demonstrated. Furthermore, these mirrors are coated on the respective edge surfaces of the UV‐B laser diodes. A comparison of the characteristics of the same device before and after edge coating reveals a reduction in the threshold current density of laser oscillation, whereas, simultaneously, an increase in slope efficiency and external differential quantum efficiency is observed. The improvement of these device characteristics, estimated from the above reflectance values, is confirmed to be almost theoretically explainable.

Tamm Plasmon Resonance as Optical Fingerprint of Silver/Bacteria Interaction.

The incorporation of responsive elements into photonic crystals is an effective strategy for fabricating active optical components to be used as sensors, actuators, and modulators. In particular, the combination of simple multilayered dielectric mirrors with optically responsive plasmonic materials has proven to be successful. Recently, Tamm plasmon (TP) modes have emerged as powerful tools for these purposes. These modes arise at the interface between a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a plasmonic layer and can be excited at a normal incidence angle. Although the TP field is located usually at the DBR/metal interface, recent studies have demonstrated that nanoscale corrugation of the metal layer permits access to the TP mode from outside, thus opening exciting perspectives for many real-life applications. In this study, we show that the TP resonance obtained by capping a DBR with a nanostructured layer of silver is responsive to Escherichia coli. Our data indicate that the modification of the TP mode originates from the well-known capability of silver to interact with bacteria, within a process in which the release of Ag+ ions leaves an excess of negative charge in the metal lattice. Finally, we exploited this effect to devise a case study in which we optically differentiated between the presence of proliferative and nonproliferative bacteria using the TP resonance as a read-out. These findings make these devices promising all-optical probes for bacterial metabolic activity, including their response to external stressors.

Patterned dielectric mirrors for uniformly high reflection in polarized light

Two types of multilayered dielectric mirrors with high reflection in the visible range are fabricated on line-patterned substrates using a suitable combination of cost-effective soft lithography and RF magnetron sputtering. They are characterized at different visible wavelengths lying outside and inside their stopband range. Their response to linearly polarized incident light depends on the wavelength, angle of incidence, and the direction of orientation of the patterned lines on the substrate with respect to the direction of polarization. A comparison of these broadband high reflectors on patterned substrates with that of equivalent high reflectors on planar substrates confirmed that the patterned high reflectors have a much higher uniformity in their reflectance value when the polarization direction of incident light is changed, both within and outside their stopband range, even at oblique angles of incidence. These broadband high reflectors are useful in applications that require uniformly high reflection even while there are changes in wavelength, polarization and the angle of incidence.

Influence of the multilayer dielectric mirror design on the laser damage growth in the sub-picosecond regime.

The peak power of high-power laser facilities is limited by the laser-induced damage to the final optical components. Also, when a damage site is generated, the damage growth phenomenon limits the lifetime of the component. Many studies have been performed to improve the laser-induced damage threshold of these components. The question now arises as to whether improvement of the initiation threshold leads to a reduction of the damage growth phenomenon. To address this question, we performed damage growth experiments on three different multilayer dielectric mirror designs exhibiting different damage thresholds. We used classical quarter-wave designs and optimized designs. The experiments were carried out with a spatial top-hat beam, spectrally centered at 1053nm with a pulse duration of 0.8ps in s- and p-polarization. The results showed the impact of design on the improvement of the damage growth thresholds and a reduction of the damage growth rates. A numerical model was used to simulate damage growth sequences. The results reveal similar trends to those observed experimentally. On the basis of these three cases, we have shown that improvement of the initiation threshold through a modification of the mirror design can lead to the reduction of the damage growth phenomenon.

Temporal and spatial laser intensification within nodular defects overcoated with multilayer dielectric mirrors over a wide range of defect geometries.

The nodular defect shape and the laser incidence angle have a dramatic impact on the spatial distribution of light intensification within the nodule as well as how the laser light is drained from the defect. Nodular defect geometries unique to ion beam sputtering, ion-assisted deposition, and electron-beam (e-beam) deposition, respectively, are modeled in this parametric study over a wide range of nodular inclusion diameters and layer count for optical interference mirror coatings constructed with quarter-wave thicknesses and capped with a half wave of the low index material. It was found for hafnia (n=1.9) and silica (n=1.45) multilayer mirrors that the light intensification in nodular defects with a C factor of 8, typical of e-beam deposited coatings deposited with a wide range of deposition angles, was maximized for a 24-layer design. For intermediate size inclusion diameters, increasing the layer count for normal incidence multilayer mirrors reduced the light intensification within the nodular defect. A second parametric study explored the impact of the nodule shape on the light intensification for a fixed number of layers. In this case, there is a strong temporal trend for the different nodule shapes. Narrow nodules tend to drain more laser energy through the bottom of the nodule into the substrate while wide nodules tend to drain more laser energy through the top of the nodule when irradiated at normal incidence. At a 45° incidence angle, waveguiding is an additional method to drain laser energy from the nodular defect. Finally, laser light resonates within nodular defects longer than within the adjacent nondefective multilayer structure.

Polarization dependence of laser damage growth features on multilayer dielectric mirrors for petawatt-class lasers.

PETAL (Petawatt Aquitaine Laser) is an ultrahigh-power laser dedicated to academic research that delivers sub-picosecond pulses. One of the major issues of these facilities is the laser damage on optical components located at the final stage. Transport mirrors of the PETAL facility are illuminated under different polarization directions. This configuration motivates a thorough investigation of the dependency of the laser damage growth features (thresholds, dynamics, and damage site morphologies) on the incident polarization. Damage growth experiments were carried out in s- and p-polarization at 0.8 ps and 1053 nm on multilayer dielectric mirrors with a squared top-hat beam. Damage growth coefficients are determined by measuring the evolution of the damaged area for both polarizations. In this Letter, we report higher damage growth threshold in p-polarization together with higher damage initiation threshold in s-polarization. We also report faster damage growth dynamics in p-polarization. The damage site morphologies and their evolution under successive pulses are found to strongly depend on polarization. A numerical model in 3D was developed to assess experimental observations. This model shows the relative differences in damage growth threshold even if it is not able to reproduce the damage growth rate. Numerical results demonstrate that damage growth is mainly driven by the electric field distribution which depends on the polarization.

Design of a High-Efficiency Multilayer Dielectric Diffraction Grating with Enhanced Laser Damage Threshold.

Diffraction gratings are becoming increasingly widespread in optical applications, notably in lasers. This study presents the work on the characterization and evaluation of Multilayer Dielectric Diffraction Gratings (MDG) based on the finite element method using Comsol MultiPhysics software. The optimal multilayer dielectric diffraction grating structure using a rectangular three-layer structure consisting of an aluminum oxide Al2O3 layer sandwiched between two silicon dioxide SiO2 layers on a multilayer dielectric mirror is simulated. Results show that this MDG for non-polarized lasers at 1064 nm with a significantly enhanced −1st diffraction efficiency of 97.4%, reaching 98.3% for transverse-electric (TE) polarization and 96.3% for transverse-magnetic (TM) polarization. This design is also preferable in terms of the laser damage threshold (LDT) because most of the maximum electric field is spread across the high LDT material SiO2 for TE polarization and scattered outside the grating for TM polarization. This function allows the system to perform better and be more stable than normal diffraction grating under a high-intensity laser.

Design of inclined omni-directional reflector for sidewall-emission-free micro-scale light-emitting diodes

Micro-scale light emitting diode (µLED) reduces the front self-luminous display area by orders of magnitude, which brings the increase of sidewall emission and the resulting crosstalk between adjacent sub-pixels of displays. Reflector coating on the µLED’s sidewall is effective for the collection and utilization of side emission light. However, the existing multilayer periodic dielectric mirrors are undesirable for all angular reflection. In this paper, an omni-directional reflector (ODR) is designed for the µLED display pixel to effectively utilize light leakage from the sidewall emission and improve the total light extraction efficiency (LEE). The designed ODR is insensitive to the angular distribution of the incident light, and has the capability to reflect the light reaching the µLED’s sidewall into the escape cone for front emission. By introducing the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method, the µLED laminated structure is established to analyze the sidewall emission with an optimal inclination angle. By introducing the ODR for the inclined µLED pixel, the overall LEE can be increased by 2.24 times and the sidewall emission is reduced by 99.6% compared with conventional vertical µLEDs. Simulation and experimental results are in good agreement. The proposed ODR is expected to achieve the increase of LEE and sidewall-emission-free µLED displays.

Investigation of the influence of a spatial beam profile on laser damage growth dynamics in multilayer dielectric mirrors in the near infrared sub-picosecond regime.

Laser-induced damage growth has often been studied with Gaussian beams in the sub-picosecond regime. However, beams generated by high-power laser facilities do not feature Gaussian profiles, a property that raises questions concerning the reliability of off-line laser-induced damage measurements. Here, we compare laser-induced damage growth dynamics as a function of beam profiles. Experiments on multilayer dielectric mirrors at 1053 nm have been carried out with squared top-hat and Gaussian beams. The results demonstrate that the laser-induced damage growth threshold does not depend on the incident beam profile. A higher damage growth rate, however, has been measured with the top-hat beam. In addition, three different regimes in the growth dynamics were identified above a given fluence. A numerical model has been developed to simulate a complete damage growth sequence for different beam profiles. The numerical results are in good agreement with the observations, three growth regimes were also revealed. These results demonstrate that a linear description of growth cannot be used for the whole growth domain.

Ultrafast Laser Material Damage Simulation-A New Look at an Old Problem.

The chirped pulse amplification technique has enabled the generation of pulses of a few femtosecond duration with peak powers multi-Tera and Peta–Watt in the near infrared. Its implementation to realize even shorter pulse duration, higher energy, and higher repetition rate laser systems relies on overcoming the limitations imposed by laser damage of critical components. In particular, the laser damage of coatings in the amplifiers and in post-compression optics have become a bottleneck. The robustness of optical coatings is typically evaluated numerically through steady-state simulations of electric field enhancement in multilayer stacks. However, this approach cannot capture crucial characteristics of femtosecond laser induced damage (LID), as it only considers the geometry of the multilayer stack and the optical properties of the materials composing the stack. This approach neglects that in the interaction of an ultrashort pulse and the materials there is plasma generation and associated material modifications. Here, we present a numerical approach to estimate the LID threshold of dielectric multilayer coatings based on strong field electronic dynamics. In this dynamic scheme, the electric field propagation, photoionization, impact ionization, and electron heating are incorporated through a finite-difference time-domain algorithm. We applied our method to simulate the LID threshold of bulk fused silica, and of multilayer dielectric mirrors and gratings. The results are then compared with experimental measurements. The salient aspects of our model, such as the implementation of the Keldysh photoionization model, the impact ionization model, the electron collision model for ‘low’-temperature, dense plasma, and the LID threshold criterion for few-cycle pulses are discussed.

Electric-field enhancement caused by subwavelength-sized particles located on the surface of multilayer dielectric mirrors.

A laser pulse impinging on the surface of an optical component can interact with particles, such as contamination debris, to produce a scattered electric field, which, either by itself or combined with the incident laser field, coherently can significantly increase the local field intensity. This effect can be of critical importance as it can reduce the laser-induced-damage threshold of the affected component. In this work, we use a field-propagation code to improve understanding regarding the factors that determine the magnitude and location of the electric-field enhancement for the case of subwavelength-sized particles located on the surface of multilayer dielectric mirrors.

Design High performance multilayers cold mirror

The optical design process includes a myriad of tasks that the designer must be performed and consider in the process of optimizing the performance of the optical system. In this article, a design based on four groups of materials for a multilayer dielectric cold mirror: V2O5 \\MgF2, Sic\\MgF2, TiO2\\MgF2, and Al As\\MgF2 where MgF2 represents low refractive index and other material in each group represent high refractive index. A cold mirrors are a special dielectric mirrors that reflects the entire visible wavelength band, while the transmitting infrared wavelength band. These systems of mirrors are constructed for an event angle from 0° to 45° and are modeled with interference filters-like multi thin layer dielectric coatings. The results of our work designed shows the mirror based on Al As/MgF2 is the most promising design for cold mirror with the highest reflection in the visible region and the highest Transition in the IR region. In the spectrum range of 400-800 nanometers, the average transmission is much less than 1 %, while the average transmission is 95 percent in the wave band 800-2500 nanometer.

Light-matter interaction in open cavities with dielectric stacks

We evaluate the exact dipole coupling strength between a single emitter and the radiation field within an optical cavity, taking into account the effects of multilayer dielectric mirrors. Our model allows one to freely vary the resonance frequency of the cavity, the frequency of light or atomic transition addressing it, and the design wavelength of the dielectric mirror. The coupling strength is derived for an open system with unbound frequency modes. For very short cavities, the effective length used to determine their mode volume and the lengths defining their resonances are different, and also found to diverge appreciably from their geometric length, with the radiation field being strongest within the dielectric mirror itself. Only for cavities much longer than their resonant wavelength does the mode volume asymptotically approach that normally assumed from their geometric length.

Measurement and control of optical nonlinearities in dispersive dielectric multilayers.

Dispersive dielectric multilayer mirrors, high-dispersion chirped mirrors in particular, are widely used in modern ultrafast optics to manipulate spectral chirps of ultrashort laser pulses. Dispersive mirrors are routinely designed for dispersion compensation in ultrafast lasers and are assumed to be linear optical components. In this work, we report the experimental characterization of an unexpectedly strong nonlinear response in these chirped mirrors. At modest peak intensities <2 TW/cm2-well below the known laser-induced damage threshold of these dielectric structures-we observed a strong reflectivity decrease, local heating, transient spectral modifications, and time-dependent absorption of the incident pulse. Through computational analysis, we found that the incident laser field can be enhanced by an order of magnitude in the dielectric layers of the structure. The field enhancement leads to a wavelength-dependent nonlinear absorption, that shows no signs of cumulative damage before catastrophic failure. The nonlinear absorption is not a simply two-photon process but instead is likely mediated by defects that facilitate two-photon absorption. To mitigate this issue, we designed and fabricated a dispersive multilayer design that strategically suppresses the field enhancement in the high-index layers, shifting the high-field regions to the larger-bandgap, low-index layers. This strategy significantly increases the maximum peak intensity that the mirror can sustain. However, our finding of an onset of nonlinear absorption even at 'modest' fluence and peak intensity has significant implications for numerous past published experimental works employing dispersive mirrors. Additionally, our results will guide future ultrafast experimental work and ultrafast laser design.

Optimization of dielectric films with dual ion beam sputtering deposition for high reflectivity mirrors

Abstract Dielectric thin films deposited by Ion beam sputtering deposition technique have superior properties of good adhesion and customized optical properties suits to many optical filters for electro-optical sensors. In the present work Tantalum Pentoxide (Tantala) and Silicon Dioxide (Silica) thin films are fabricated with dual ion beam sputtering deposition process. The process parameters are optimized to achieve better surface quality and optical constants. The effect of the assist ion beam on the film properties is evaluated. Multi-layer dielectric mirrors realized with 1000 ppm loss on optimization of single-layer Silica and Tantala films, which will be suitable for linear and Ring Laser Resonators. The films are characterized by ellipsometer, non-contact optical profiler, spectrophotometer, and cavity ring-down loss meter. The multi-layer mirrors were subjected to vacuum annealing and the effect of annealing on film reflectivity is evaluated. The work emphasizes the process requirements of Ion Beam Sputtering to realize high reflectivity and low loss mirrors of Tantala and Silica films from Ta2O5 and SiO2 target materials. It gives an insight into the process deficiencies in matching the theoretical design of multi-layer mirrors from the practical aspects of coatings.