Experimental Study on the Damage of Optical Materials by out of Band Composite Laser

Abstract

For the paper, experimental studies were performed on the damage of the Ge- and Si-based flat window by lasers out-of-band. The experimental results showed that lasers out-of-band can cause film damage and substrate damage to Ge and Si windows. The high-energy laser damage window mechanism mainly manifested as thermal effects. The composite laser damage thresholds for the substrate were an Si window of 21.6 J/cm2 and a Ge window of 3 J/cm2. Compared with continuous laser and long pulse laser experimental results, it was found that the use of long pulse-continuous composite constitution could effectively reduce the damage threshold. Compared to the long-pulse laser, the composite laser could achieve similar damage effects with a smaller energy density.

Keywords

• flat window
• high power composite laser
• out of band
• laser material interaction
• damage effect