| Abstract: | Surface damage to ruby laser crystals is investigated. To identify the surfacedamage mechanism, the dependence of the damage threshold on the laser pulse duration is investigated from 300 nsec to 0.4 msec. From this dependence, as well as from the dependence of the damage threshold on the defect content of the surface layer, it is concluded that the damage to the surface of the mechanically worked laser ruby crystals is due to a thermal mechanism. Methods are developed for obtaining, by thermal evaporation of oriented crystals, surfaces with increased endurance to laser damage. Such surfaces have a low light-scattering stability.Translated from Trudy Ordena Lenina Fizicheskogo Instituta im. P. N. Lebedeva, Vol. 101, pp. 9–30, 1978. |
