February 10, 2011 / Vol. 9, No. 2 / CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS 023103-1
Single- and multi-shot laser-induced damages of Ta
2
O
5
/SiO
2
dielectric mirrors at 1064 nm
Ying Wang (
EEE
)
1,2∗
, Hongbo He (
åååùùù
ÅÅÅ
)
1
, Yuan’an Zhao (
ëëë
SSS
)
1
, Yongguang Shan (
üüü
[[[
111
)
1,2
,
Dawei Li (
ooo
)
1
, and Chaoyang Wei (
)
1
1
Key Laboratory of Materials for High Power Lasers, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai 201800, China
2
Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
∗
Corresponding author: sdwangy@hotmail.com
Received August 27, 2010; accepted November 3, 2010; posted online January 28, 2011
Ta
2
O
5
/SiO
2
dielectric mirrors deposited by ion beam sputtering (IBS) are stu died. The multi-shot laser-
induced damage threshold (LIDT) and its dependence on the number of shots are investigated, after which
we find that the multi-shot LIDT is lower than that of single-shot. The accumulation effects of defects
play an important role in the multi-shot laser damage. A simple model, which includes the conduction
band electron production vsa multiphoton and impact ionizations, is presented to explain the experimental
phenomena.
OCIS codes: 310.6870, 140.3330, 230.4040, 230.4170
doi: 10.3788/COL201109.023103.
In recent years, multi-shot laser-induced damage on op-
tical materials, such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate
(KDP) crystal, fused silica, and multilayer coating, has
become a popular research topic. Multi-shot laser in-
duced damage threshold (LIDT) has often been s hown
to be much lower than that of single-shot because of the
accumulation effects
[1−4]
. In order to understand the
mechanism of the multi-shot laser da mage of the optical
multilayer used in high-power laser systems, we attempt
to find the cor relations between observed laser damage
threshold and the number o f shots. The mechanism fo r
single-shot laser damage includes avalanche ionization
[5]
,
multi-photon ionization
[6]
, and impurity breakdown
[7]
.
However, the da mage mechanism of multi-shot radiation
is mor e complicated than that of single-shot radiation.
The mechanism of multi-shot damage has not been fully
understood yet, which obviously has a very important
impact on the practical applications o f optical systems.
In the femtosecond regime, the damage is intrinsic; in
contrast, defects or impurities have been shown to play
an important role in the laser-induced damage in the
nanosecond regime
[8]
. The aim of this letter is to analyze
the accumulation effects on the laser damage resistance
in nanosecond regime and find correlations between ob-
served LIDT and the number of shots.
In this letter, we present the results of 1-on-1 and S-
on-1 tests at 1064 nm in Ta
2
O
5
/SiO
2
dielectric mirrors.
Then, we give the experimental details concerning the
sample deposition process and the laser damage test pro-
cedure. Finally, the experimental results and discussions
are also given.
The mirror coatings were prepared by ion beam
sputtering. The coating design of the sample was G
|(HL)
13
H|A. Here, H denoted high index material Ta
2
O
5
with one quarter wavelength optical thickness (QWOT),
L deno ted low index material SiO
2
with one QWOT,
G denoted BK7 substrate, and A denoted the incident
medium (air). The tr ansmittance spectrum of the sam-
ple is shown in Fig. 1.
The experimental setup for laser damage is shown
schematically in Fig. 2, in which the Nd:YAG laser sys-
tem operated at the TEM
00
mode and the pulse width
was 12 ns at 1064 nm. The laser was focused to provide
a far-field circular Gaussian beam. The effective area
of the spot on the sample was 0.12 mm
2
, which was
measured by a las e r beam analyzer. In the S-on-1 test,
the sample was tested at the frequency of 5 Hz. The
laser energy used to damage the sample was obtained by
adjusting the attenuator, after which the pulse energy
was measured by an energy meter from a split off portion
of the beam. The sample was set upon a two-dimensional
Fig. 1. Transmittance spectrum of the sample.
Fig. 2. Experimental setup of laser damage testing.
1671-7694/2011/023103(4)
c
2011 Chinese Optics Letters