静/动态刻蚀对熔石英表面质量和激光损伤的影响

为了研究静/动态刻蚀过程中熔石英表面质量和抗激光损伤性能的演变规律,优化化学刻蚀工艺,使用HF酸缓冲液对熔石英分别进行了不同时间的静/动态刻蚀处理。实验表明,由于兆声场辅助搅拌作用,熔石英动态刻蚀的刻蚀速率快于静态刻蚀。动态刻蚀后熔石英表面均方根(RMS)粗糙度和反射面形分别为 < 1 nm和0.46λ,其3倍频透射率先小幅增加后保持稳定,相比初始表面增加约0.1%。而静态刻蚀使得表面RMS粗糙度和反射面形分别增加至~5 nm和0.82λ,其3倍频透射率先基本不变后下降,相比初始表面下降约0.4%。二者损伤阈值呈现明显不同变化规律:静态刻蚀使熔石英损伤阈值先小幅增加约30%后逐渐降低,动态刻蚀使熔石英损伤阈值增加近一倍后保持相对稳定。结果表明,动态刻蚀后熔石英光学元件性能明显优于静态刻蚀。     

超声波辅助酸蚀提高熔石英损伤阈值

为了提高熔石英元件表面抗激光损伤阈值,利用超声波辅助HF酸研究平滑光学元件表面缺陷形貌和去除刻蚀后残留物效果,通过扫描电子显微镜电镜和原子力显微镜记录表面形貌结构,以及单脉冲激光辐照测试抗损伤阈值确定实验参数。研究表明,超声波场的引入能催化HF酸的刻蚀速率、提高钝化效果并且更易剥离嵌入的亚μm级杂质粒子。经过实验测试,获得了熔石英类元件相匹配的超声辅助HF酸刻蚀实验参数,研究结果对应用超声波辅助HF酸研究熔石英表面抗激光损伤有重要意义。     

预处理对355nm激光作用下熔石英损伤增长的影响

测试了经化学蚀刻、紫外激光预处理及其共同处理后的熔石英355 nm激光损伤阈值;研究了处理前后其损伤斑面积随激光辐照脉冲数的增长情况。结果表明,处理后熔石英355 nm激光损伤阈值得到了提高,且损伤斑面积增长变慢。利用CO2激光对熔石英表面损伤点进行了修复处理,修复后的损伤点R-on-1抗损伤阈值和基底阈值相当,损伤增长得到有效抑制。     

熔石英元件HF刻蚀的实验研究

为深入了解熔石英元件化学刻蚀过程,研究了HF刻蚀反应机理、HF刻蚀工艺参数以及刻蚀对表面质量的影响规律。通过控制变量法,获得刻蚀速率随HF浓度、刻蚀温度以及NH4F浓度的变化规律。对刻蚀不同深度后的元件表面粗糙度、形貌、杂质含量以及激光损伤阈值进行了检测,实验结果表明:刻蚀速率受多种因素共同影响,其中HF浓度的促进作用最为显著;刻蚀后的熔石英表面形貌复杂,有横向、纵向、拖尾等形式的划痕,以及坑点、杂质等缺陷,其中横向划痕和纵向划痕占据了缺陷部分的主体,主要杂质铈元素随刻蚀时间的增长不断减少;激光损伤阈值测量实验表明,通过HF刻蚀将元件损伤阈值提高了59.6%。     

高功率激光装置大口径光学元件侧面清洗实验

针对高功率激光装置内部最易产生受激布里渊散射(SBS)效应的大口径取样光栅(BSG)元件,测试了经过化学刻蚀、紫外激光清洗作用处理后,大口径光学元件BSG侧面在355 nm激光辐照下的损伤阈值、损伤形态以及产生的石英颗粒气溶胶对环境污染程度的分析。结果表明:经过化学刻蚀,BSG侧面的损伤阈值提高78%,基本与通光面的损伤阈值相当,而经过紫外激光处理后的损伤阈值提升不高,仅为通光面损伤阈值的56%。侧面对比分析了相同激光能量辐照下样片侧面产生的气溶胶污染状况,结果表明紫外激光处理同样可以提高光学元件侧面产生污染物的阈值,且对光学元件性能没有影响。通过微观形貌和对通光口径影响分析表明,紫外激光清洗处理比化学刻蚀具有更好的安全性和适用性。     

铜膜和铁膜污染物诱导熔石英表面损伤行为的对比研究

采用人工溅射的方式分别在熔石英基片上镀制了光学厚度相近的铜膜和铁膜污染物。研究了熔石英基底在355nm波长的激光损伤阈值。分别采用透射式光热透镜技术、椭偏仪、原子力显微镜和光学显微镜研究了两类薄膜的热吸收、膜层厚度、表面微观形貌以及激光辐照后薄膜的损伤形貌。实验结果表明：熔石英表面的金属膜状污染物均导致基片损伤阈值下降,位于前表面的污染物引起的损伤阈值下降更为严重,约为23％。两种污染物薄膜引起基底的损伤形貌、基底损伤阈值的下降幅度与薄膜的热吸收系数与微观结构有关。从热力学响应角度,结合损伤形貌对污染物诱导熔石英表面形貌的损伤机理进行了讨论。     

熔石英表面加工引入金属微粒的三倍频激光损伤机制

 以材料表面金属元素吸收作为主线建立熔石英表面损伤模型,理论模拟了激光辐照过程中金属微粒周围温度场的变化,模型结果显示,在脉冲时间内微粒周围温度很快达到损伤判据给出的临界温度。通过激光损伤实验,对比刻蚀与未刻蚀样品之间的损伤密度,证实了金属微粒含量与损伤密度存在密切联系。计算结果和实验结果均表明：金属微粒是熔石英激光损伤中重要的吸收前驱体,极大降低了熔石英材料的表面抗损伤性能。     

酸蚀与紫外激光预处理结合提高熔石英损伤阈值

采用HF酸刻蚀和紫外激光预处理相结合的方式提升熔石英元件的负载能力,用质量分数为1%的HF缓冲溶液对熔石英刻蚀1~100 min,综合透过率、粗糙度和损伤阈值测试结果,发现刻蚀时间为10min的熔石英抗损伤能力最佳。采用355 nm紫外激光对HF酸刻蚀10 min的熔石英进行预处理,结果表明:紫外预处理能量密度在熔石英零损伤阈值的60%以下时,激光损伤阈值单调递增;能量到达80%时,阈值反而低于原始样片的损伤阈值。适当地控制酸蚀时间和紫外激光预处理参数能有效提高熔石英的抗损伤能力。     

光学元件兆声辅助化学刻蚀工艺参数优化

对传统的静态刻蚀方法进行了改进,提出了一种光学元件兆声辅助化学刻蚀新方法,并对传统静态刻蚀与兆声辅助化学刻蚀效果进行了对比分析,综合考虑刻蚀液的配比、刻蚀时间、添加活性剂种类和功率对光学元件激光损伤阈值的影响,通过正交设计实验优选出最佳的兆声辅助化学刻蚀工艺参数。结果表明:兆声清洗对各类杂质的去除效果要明显好于手工擦洗,兆声辅助化学刻蚀比传统的静态刻蚀有更高的刻蚀速率,在兆声的作用下刻蚀液能够进入到传统静态刻蚀难以进入的微裂纹中,对微裂纹等缺陷的刻蚀效果更为明显,能够将熔石英元件激光损伤阈值进一步提高。     

表面Al膜污染物诱导熔石英表面损伤特性

在熔石英表面人工溅射一层Al膜污染物,分别测试污染前后熔石英基片在355 nm波长激光辐照下的损伤阈值,并采用透射式光热透镜技术、椭偏仪和光学显微镜研究了污染物Al膜的热吸收、厚度以及激光辐照前后熔石英的损伤形貌。用355 nm波长的脉冲激光分别辐照位于污染的熔石英和洁净的熔石英前后表面的损伤点,并用显微镜在线采集损伤增长图样,测试损伤点面积。实验表明:熔石英前表面的金属Al膜污染物导致基片损伤阈值的下降约30%,后表面的污染物导致基片下降约15%,位于熔石英样片后表面损伤点面积随激光辐照次数呈指数增长,而位于前表面的损伤点面积与激光脉冲辐照次数呈线性增长关系;带有污染的熔石英样片的增长因子比洁净的熔石英样片的增长因子高30%。     

Correlation of polishing-induced shallow subsurface damages with laser-induced gray haze damages in fused silica optics

Laser-induced damage in fused silica optics greatly restricts the performances of laser facilities. Gray haze damage,which is always initiated on ceria polished optics, is one of the most important damage morphologies in fused silica optics.In this paper, the laser-induced gray haze damages of four fused silica samples polished with CeO_2, Al_2O_3, ZrO_2, and colloidal silica slurries are investigated. Four samples all present gray haze damages with much different damage densities.Then, the polishing-induced contaminant and subsurface damages in four samples are analyzed. The results reveal that the gray haze damages could be initiated on the samples without Ce contaminant and are inclined to show a tight correlation with the shallow subsurface damages.     

Subsurface defect characterization and laser-induced damage performance of fused silica optics polished with colloidal silica and ceria

This paper mainly focuses on the influence of colloidal silica polishing on the damage performance of fused silica optics. In this paper, nanometer sized colloidal silica and micron sized ceria are used to polish fused silica optics. The colloidal silica polished samples and ceria polished samples exhibit that the root-mean-squared(RMS) average surface roughness values are 0.7 nm and 1.0 nm, respectively. The subsurface defects and damage performance of the polished optics are analyzed and discussed. It is revealed that colloidal silica polishing will introduce much fewer absorptive contaminant elements and subsurface damages especially no trailing indentation fracture. The 355-nm laser damage test reveals that each of the fused silica samples polished with colloidal silica has a much higher damage threshold and lower damage density than ceria polished samples. Colloidal silica polishing is potential in manufacturing high power laser optics.     

Effect of HF etching on the surface quality and laser-induced damage of fused silica

The surface hardness of polished and HF etched fused silica has been investigated by nanoindentation technique. The results of polished fused silica indicate that the hardness of surface layer is greater than that of the bulk material. The difference should be attributed to the polishing induced deformation of the thin surface layer. The various removal depths of surface layer by HF etching has been confirmed by the surface hardness results. The initial laser damage threshold and damage possibility of unetched and etched samples were also measured. The results show a great improvement of damage resistance by slight etching and a reduction by excess etching. The correlation between surface hardness and damage threshold indicates that the mechanical strength plays an important role in the initiation of laser-induced damage.     

熔石英紫外激光初始损伤形态分析

 采取355 nm激光脉冲辐照熔石英样品,利用Nomarski微分干涉差显微镜、原子力显微镜和扫描电子显微镜观测手段对前后表面产生的损伤点进行了观察分析。对前后表面损伤形态做出详细的描述和分类,从理论上对每种损伤类型产生的条件与机理做出推测。实验结果表明：熔石英前表面存在小麻点群损伤和星状裂纹损伤两种损伤形态,横向尺寸分别为0.8～2.5和1.0～5.5 μm;后表面存在小麻点群损伤、壳状剥离损伤和火山口3种损伤形态,损伤横向尺寸分别为0.48～1.33,4～20和12～30 μm。实验证明了1 μm尺度损伤点的产生与再沉积层密切相关。     

酸蚀深度对熔石英三倍频激光损伤阈值的影响

 采用干涉仪和台阶仪测试蚀刻深度随时间的变化,结合材料去除速率测量,研究了HF酸蚀液对熔石英表面蚀刻的影响。测试了蚀刻后损伤阈值和表面粗糙度的变化。研究表明,熔石英表面重沉积层厚度约16 nm,亚表面缺陷层大于106 nm;重沉积层去除后损伤阈值增大,随亚表面缺陷层暴露其阈值先降低后又增加,最后趋于稳定;然而,随蚀刻时间的增加,其表面粗糙度增大。分析表明,蚀刻到200 nm能有效地提高熔石英的低损伤阈值,有利于降低初始损伤点数量和提高熔石英表面的机械强度。     

Incident laser modulation of a repaired damage site with a rim in fused silica rear subsurface

Local CO2 laser treatment has proved to be an effective method to prevent the 351-nm laser-induced damage sites in a fused silica surface from exponentially growing, which is responsible for limiting the lifetime of optics in high fluence laser systems. However, the CO2 laser induced ablation crater is often surrounded by a raised rim at the edge, which can also result in the intensification of transmitted ultraviolet light that may damage the downstream optics. In this work, the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method is developed to simulate the distribution of electrical field intensity in the vicinity of the CO2 laser mitigated damage site located in the exit subsurface of fused silica. The simulated results show that the repaired damage sites with raised rims cause more notable modulation to the incident laser than those without rims. Specifically, we present a theoretical model of using dimpled patterning to control the rim structure around the edge of repaired damage sites to avoid damage to downstream optics. The calculated results accord well with previous experimental results and the underlying physical mechanism is analysed in detail.     

Laser-induced damage on large-aperture fused silica gratings

Two sets of laser-damage experiments on large-aperture fused silica optics have been carried out in a high-power laser facility. Severe damage has been found on the grating which presented dense craters on the front surface. This phenomenon is quite different from other fused silica optics, which are damaged on the rear surface. The damage possibility due to the redeposition layer was ruled out by acid-etching the grating’s front surface. The remarkable stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effect was observed in grating and the reason for the front surface damage is thought to be the backward SBS.     

Laser-Induced Damage Growth on Larger-Aperture Fused Silica Optical Components at 351nm

Laser-induced damage is a key lifetime limiter for optics in high-power laser facility. Damage initiation and growth under 351 nm high-fluence laser irradiation are observed on larger-aperture fused silica optics. The input surface of one fused silica component is damaged most severely and an explanation is presented. Obscurations and the area of a scratch on it are found to grow exponentially with the shot number. The area of damage site grows linearly. Micrographs of damage sites support the micro-explosion damage model which could be used to qualitatively explain the phenomena.