Study on high-reflective coatings of different designs at 532 nm

Conventional HfO2/SiO2 and Al2O3/HfO2/SiO2 double stack high reflective （HR） coatings at 532 nm are deposited by electron beam evaporation onto BK7 substrates. The laser-induced damage threshold （LIDT） of two kinds of HR coatings is tested, showing that the laser damage resistance of the double stack HR coatings （16 J/cm2） is better than that of the conventional HR coatings （12.8 J/cm2）. Besides, the optical properties, surface conditions, and damage morphologies of each group samples are characterized. The results show that laser damage resistance of conventional HR coatings is determined by absorptive defect, while nodular defect is responsible for the LIDT of double stack HR coatings.     

HfO2/SiO2双色膜在1 064 nm和532 nm激光辐照下的损伤特性

 采用电子束蒸发的方式,制备了有氧化硅内保护层和没有氧化硅内保护层的1 064 nm高透过、532 nm高反射的HfO₂/SiO₂双色膜,测量了它们的光学性能以及在基频和倍频激光辐照下的抗损伤性能。结果表明:氧化硅内保护层提高了双色膜在基频光辐照下的损伤阈值,对双色膜在倍频光辐照下的损伤阈值无明显影响。通过观察薄膜的损伤形貌,分析破斑的深度信息结合驻波场分布,对两类双色膜在基频光和倍频光下的损伤机制做了初步探讨。分析表明:氧化硅内保护层提高了膜基界面的抗损伤性能,从而提高了双色膜在基频光下的损伤阈值。     

Laser-induced damage of high reflectors for Ti:sapphire laser system

A broadband (～ 176 nm, R ＞ 98%, λ0 = 800 nm) and high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT =2.4 J/cm2) TiO2/HfO2/SiO2 high reflector (HR) for Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) laser system is fabricated by the electron beam evaporation. The refractive index and extinction coefficient of TiO2 and HfO2 films are calculated from single-layer films' transmittance spectra. The properties of HR are mainly determined by the high refractive index material. The high refractive index leads to wide bandwidth. A low extinction coefficient indicates low absorption and high LIDT. The possible damage mechanism of HR is discussed.     

化学法制备的HfO2薄膜的激光损伤阈值研究

 采用化学法制备了HfO₂介质膜，研究了热处理、紫外辐照以及Al₂O₃复合对HfO₂介质膜激光损伤阈值的影响。采用红外光谱（FTIR）和X射线衍射仪对薄膜进行了表征，并用输出波长为1.064 μm、脉宽为10 ns的电光调Q激光系统测试薄膜的激光损伤阈值。实验结果表明：采用150 ℃左右的温度对薄膜进行热处理可以提高薄膜的激光损伤阈值，所获得的薄膜的激光损伤阈值高达42.32 J/cm²，比热处理前的激光损伤阈值提高了82%；无机材料Al₂O₃的适量添加能够提高薄膜的激光损伤阈值，其中HfO₂与Al₂O₃的最佳质量配比约为95∶5；另外，对薄膜进行适当的紫外辐照也可改善HfO₂ 薄膜以及HfO₂-Al₂O₃复合薄膜的抗激光损伤性能。紫外辐照对提高HfO₂-Al₂O₃复合薄膜的激光损伤阈值效果尤为显著，辐照40 min后的激光损伤阈值达到44.33 J/cm²，比紫外辐照前的激光损伤阈值提高了90%。     

Damage on HfO2/SiO2 high-reflecting coatings under single and multiple Nd:YAG laser pulse irradiation

The single- and multi-shot damage behaviors of HfO2/SiO2 high-reflecting (HR) coatings under Nd:YAG laser exposure were investigated. Fundamental aspects of multi-shot laser damage, such as the instability due to pulse-to-pulse accumulation of absorption defect and structural defect effect, and the mechanism of laser induced defect generation, are considered. It was found in multi-shot damage, the main factors influencing laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) are accumulation of irreversible changes of structural defects and thermal stress that induced by thermal density fluctuations.     

Postprocessing treatments to improve the laser damage resistance of fused silica optical surfaces and SiO2 coatings

The combination of deep wet etching and a magneto-rheological finishing(MRF) process is investigated to simultaneously improve laser damage resistance of a fused-silica surface at 355 nm. The subsequently deposited SiO2 coatings are researched to clarify the impact of substrate finishing technology on the coatings. It is revealed that a deep removal proceeding from the single side or double side had a significant impact on the laser-induced damage threshold(LIDT) of the fused silica, especially for the rear surface. After the deep etching, the MRF process that followed does not actually increase the LIDT, but it does ameliorate the surface qualities without additional LIDT degradation. The combination guarantee both the integrity of the surface’s finish and the laser damage resistance of the fused silica and subsequent SiO2 coatings.     

SiO2内保护层对LiB3O5晶体倍频增透膜损伤阈值的影响

 利用离子辅助电子束沉积方法在LiB₃O₅基底上镀制了不加SiO₂内保护层和加SiO₂内保护层的倍频增透膜，测量了两类薄膜在波长1 064 nm多脉冲辐照下的激光损伤阈值，获得了两种不同的损伤形貌，并对损伤原因作了初步探讨。实验结果表明：保护层的加入把由基底膜层界面缺陷吸收所决定的阈值改变到由HfO₂膜层内缺陷吸收所决定的阈值，显著提高了倍频增透膜的抗激光损伤能力。     

两种后处理方法对HfO2薄膜性能的影响

利用电子束蒸发和光电极值监控技术制备了氧化铪薄膜,并分别用两种后处理方法(空气中退火和氧等离子体轰击)对样品进行了处理.然后,对样品的透过率、吸收和抗激光损伤阈值进行了测试分析.实验结果表明,两种后处理方法都能不同程度地降低了氧化铪薄膜的吸收损耗、提高了抗激光损伤阈值.实验结果还表明,氧等离子体轰击的后处理效果明显优于热退火,样品的吸收平均值在氧等离子体后处理前后分别为34.8 ppm和9.0 ppm,而基频(1 064 nm)激光损伤阈值分别为10.0 J/cm2和21.4 J/cm2.     

Contamination process and laser-induced damage of HfO2/SiO2 coatings in vacuum

The performances of HfO2/SiO2 single- and multi-layer coatings in vacuum influenced by contamination are studied. The surface morphology, the transmittance spectrum, and the laser-induced damage threshold are investigated. The results show that the contamination in vacuum mainly comes from the vacuum system and the contamination process is different for the HfO2 and SiO2 films. The laser-induced damage experiments at 1064 nm in vacuum show that the damage resistance of the coatings will decrease largely due to the organic contamination.     

Effect of native defects and laser-induced defects on multi-shot laser-induced damage in multilayer mirrors

The roles of laser-induced defects and native defects in multilayer mirrors under multi-shot irradiation condition are investigated. The HfO 2 /SiO 2 dielectric mirrors are deposited by electron beam evaporation(EBE) . Laser damage testing is carried out on both the 1-on-1 and S-on-1 regimes using 355-nm pulsed laser at a duration of 8 ns. It is found that the single-shot laser-induced damage threshold(LIDT) is much higher than the multi-shot LIDT. In the multi-shot mode,the main factor influencing LIDT is the accumulation of irreversible laser-induced defects and native defects. The surface morphologies of the samples are observed by optical microscopy. Moreover,the number of laser-induced defects affects the damage probability of the samples. A correlative model based on critical conduction band(CB) electron density(ED) is presented to simulate the multi-shot damage behavior.     

缓冲层对LBO晶体上1 064 nm|532 nm二倍频增透膜的激光损伤阈值的影响

采用电子束蒸发方法在LBO晶体上制备了无缓冲层和具有不同缓冲层的1 064 nm,532 nm二倍频增透膜.利用Lambda900分光光度计和调Q脉冲激光装置对样品的光学性能和抗激光损伤性能进行了测试分析.结果表明,所有样品在1 064 nm和532 nm波长的剩余反射率都分别小于0.1％和0.2％.与无缓冲层样品相比,采用SiO2和MgF2缓冲层薄膜的激光损伤阈值分别提高了23.1％和25.8％,而Al2O3缓冲层的插入却导致薄膜的激光损伤阈值降低.通过观察薄膜的激光损伤形貌,分析破斑的深度信息和电场分布,表明LBO晶体上1 064 nm,532 nm二倍频增透膜的激光损伤破坏主要表现为膜层剥落,激光产生的热冲击应力使薄膜应力发生很大变化,超过膜层之间的结合而引起膜层之间的分离.采用SiO2或MgF2缓冲层可改进Al2O3膜层的质量,从而有利于提高薄膜的激光损伤阈值.     

Comparison of laser-induced damage in Ta2O5 and Nb2O5 single-layer films and high reflectors

Ta2O5 and Nb2O5 films are deposited on BK7 glass substrates using an electron beam evaporation method and are annealed at 673 K in the air.In this letter,comparative studies of the optical transmittance,microstructure,chemical composition,optical absorption,and laser-induced damage threshold(LIDT) of the two films are conducted.Findings indicate that the substoichiometric defect is very harmful to the laser damage resistance of Ta2O5 and Nb2O5 films.The decrease of absorption improves the LIDT in films deposited by the same material.However,although the absorption of the Ta2O5 single layer is less than that of the Nb2O5 single layer,the LIDT of the former is lower than that of the latter.High-reflective(HR) coatings have a higher LIDT than single layers due to the thermal dissipation of the SiO2 layers and the decreased electric field intensity(EFI).In addition,the Nb2O5 HR coating achieves the highest LIDT at 25.6 J/cm 2 in both single layers and HR coatings.     

窄带干涉滤光片抗击不同输出方式激光的损伤特性研究

利用Nd∶YAG调Q单脉冲激光和自由脉冲激光对硬膜窄带干涉滤光片进行激光损伤阈值的测试，并且采用表面热透镜技术测量了滤光片的吸收率。实验发现:窄带干涉滤光片的吸收率和激光损伤阈值强烈依赖于辐照激光波长与窄带干涉滤光片通带的相对位置；在调Q单脉冲激光作用下，不同中心波长的滤光片损伤形貌存在明显的差别，而在自由脉冲激光作用下，各滤光片的损伤形貌则趋于相同，均表现为典型的热熔烧蚀破坏。根据实验结果，结合损伤形貌，通过驻波场理论对激光作用下滤光片内电场分布的分析与模拟，探讨了两种激光模式作用下滤光片的损伤特征和损伤机理的不同特点。     

缓冲层对LBO晶体上1 064 nm，532 nm增透膜附着力的影响

 采用电子束蒸发方法在LBO晶体上制备了无缓冲层和具有不同缓冲层的1 064 nm,532 nm二倍频增透膜。利用分光光度计、纳米力学综合测试系统以及调Q脉冲激光装置对样品的光学性能、附着力以及抗激光损伤性能进行了测试分析。结果表明：所有样品在1 064 nm和532 nm波长的剩余反射率都分别小于0.1％和0.2％;与无缓冲层样品相比,预镀Al₂O₃缓冲层样品的附着力提高了43.1％,具有SiO₂缓冲层样品的附着力显著提高,而MgF₂缓冲层的插入却导致薄膜附着力降低。应用全塑性压痕理论和剪切理论对薄膜的附着力增强机制进行了分析。薄膜的抗激光损伤性能分析表明,SiO₂缓冲层也有助于改进薄膜的激光损伤阈值。     

Effect of standing-wave field distribution on femosecond laser-induced damage of HfO_2/SiO_2 mirror coating

Single-pulse and multi-pulse damage behaviors of "standard"(with λ/4 stack structure) and "modified"(with reduced standing-wave field) HfO2/SiO2 mirror coatings are investigated using a commercial 50-fs,800-nm Ti:sapphire laser system.Precise morphologies of damaged sites display strikingly different features when the samples are subjected to various number of incident pulses,which are explained reasonably by the standing-wave field distribution within the coatings.Meanwhile,the single-pulse laser-induced damage threshold of the "standard" mirror is improved by about 14% while suppressing the normalized electric field intensity at the outmost interface of the HfO2 and SiO2 layers by 37%.To discuss the damage mechanism,a theoretical model based on photoionization,avalanche ionization,and decays of electrons is adopted to simulate the evolution curves of the conduction-band electron density during pulse duration.     

高损伤阈值三倍频分离膜

 设计了Nd：YAG激光用三倍频分离膜,膜层材料为SiO₂和HfO₂。经过优化,膜系在355 nm处的反射率在99%以上,在532 nm和1 064 nm处透射率也在99%以上。采用电子束蒸发技术,在熔融石英基底上制备了样品,经测量,制备的分离膜光学性能与设计值接近。分离膜在355 nm激光辐照下的损伤阈值为5.1 J/cm²,并用微分干涉显微镜表征了薄膜损伤形貌。     

HfO_2单层膜的吸收和激光损伤阈值测试

薄膜吸收是降低膜层激光损伤阈值的重要原因,为了研究薄膜吸收对激光损伤阈值的影响,对HfO2单层膜在1 064 nm处的吸收及其在不同波长激光辐照下的损伤阈值进行了测试和分析。研究结果表明:薄膜的激光损伤阈值由薄膜吸收平均值(决定于薄膜中缺陷的种类和数量)和吸收均匀性(决定于薄膜中缺陷的分布)共同决定;根据HfO2单层膜在1064 nm波长处的吸收值,不但可以定性判断薄膜在1 064 nm波长,而且还可以判断在其它波长激光辐照下的抗激光损伤能力。     

Influence of APS bias voltage on properties of HfO_2 and SiO_2 single layer deposited by plasma ion-assisted deposition

HfO2 and SiO2 single layer is deposited on glass substrate with plasma ion assistance provided by Leybold advanced plasma source (APS). The deposition is performed with a bias voltage in the range of 70-130 V for HfO2, and 70-170 V for SiO2. Optical, structural, mechanical properties, as well as absorption and laser induced damage threshold at 1064 nm of HfO2 and SiO2 single layer deposited with the plasma ion assistance are systematically investigated. With the increase of APS bias voltage, coatings with higher refractive index, reduced surface roughness, and higher laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) are obtained, and no significant change of the absorption at 1064 nm is observed. For HfO2, a bias voltage can be identified to achieve coatings without any stress. However, too-high bias voltage can cause the increase of surface roughness and stress, and decrease the LIDT. The bias voltage can be properly identified to achieve coatings with desired properties.     

缓冲层对LBO晶体上1 064 nm,532 nm二倍频增透膜的激光损伤阈值的影响

采用电子束蒸发方法在LBO晶体上制备了无缓冲层和具有不同缓冲层的1 064 nm,532 nm二倍频增透膜.利用Lambda900分光光度计和调Q脉冲激光装置对样品的光学性能和抗激光损伤性能进行了测试分析.结果表明,所有样品在1 064 nm和532 nm波长的剩余反射率都分别小于0.1%和0.2%.与无缓冲层样品相比,采用SiO2和MgF2缓冲层薄膜的激光损伤阈值分别提高了23.1%和25.8%,而Al2O3缓冲层的插入却导致薄膜的激光损伤阈值降低.通过观察薄膜的激光损伤形貌,分析破斑的深度信息和电场分布,表明LBO晶体上1 064 nm,532 nm二倍频增透膜的激光损伤破坏主要表现为膜层剥落,激光产生的热冲击应力使薄膜应力发生很大变化,超过膜层之间的结合而引起膜层之间的分离.采用SiO2或MgF2缓冲层可改进Al2O3膜层的质量,从而有利于提高薄膜的激光损伤阈值.     

Enhanced laser induced damage threshold of dielectric antireflection coatings by the introduction of one interfacial layer

A new method for increasing laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of dielectric antireflection (AR) coating is proposed. Compared with AR film stack of H2.5L (H:HfO2, L:SiO2) on BK7 substrate, SiO2 interfacial layer with four quarter wavelength optical thickness (QWOT) is deposited on the substrate before the preparation of H2.5L film. It is found that the introduction of SiO2 interfacial layer with a certain thickness is effective and flexible to increase the LIDT of dielectric AR coatings. The measured LIDT is enhanced by about 50%, while remaining the low reflectivity with less than 0.09% at the center wavelength of 1064 nm. Detailed mechanisms of the LIDT enhancement are discussed.