Anti-Reflective Fluoride Coatings for Widely Tunable Deep-Ultraviolet Diode-Pumped Solid-State Laser Applications

An anti-reflective (AR) fluoride coating in the 170-230 nm spectral range is prepared by the thermal evaporation method for the applications of widely tunable deep-ultraviolet diode-pumped solid-state lasers. The transmittance of an AR coated calcium fluoride (CaF₂) window in thickness 3 mm is measured to be in the range of 95.8% at 170 nm to 97.1% at 230 nm, with the maximum transmittance 99.2% and the minimum residual reflectance 0.04% appeared at 195 nm. The experimental results indicate that treating the AR coated window and the bare substrate with ultraviolet irradiation can significantly improve their optical performance.