Damage on fused silica optics caused by laser ablation of surface-bound microparticles

Optics Express
Rajesh N RamanManyalibo J Matthews

Abstract

High peak power laser systems are vulnerable to performance degradation due to particulate contamination on optical surfaces. In this work, we show using model contaminant particles that their optical properties decisively determine the nature of the optical damage. Borosilicate particles with low intrinsic optical absorption undergo ablation initiating in their sub-surface, leading to brittle fragmentation, distributed plasma formation, material dispersal and ultimately can lead to micro-fractures in the substrate optical surface. In contrast, energy coupling into metallic particles is highly localized near the particle-substrate interface leading to the formation of a confined plasma and subsequent etching of the substrate surface, accompanied by particle ejection driven by the recoil momentum of the ablation plume. While the tendency to create fractured surface pitting from borosilicate is stochastic, the smooth ablation pits created by metal particles is deterministic, with pit depths scaling linearly with laser fluence. A simple model is employed which predicts ~3x electric field intensity enhancement from surface-bound fragments. In addition, our results suggest that the amount of energy deposited in metal particles is at...Continue Reading

References

Feb 12, 2008·Applied Optics·C C WidmayerS P deSzoeke
Oct 20, 1993·Applied Optics·J T HuntP A Renard
Jun 21, 2012·Optics Express·Raluca A NegresChristopher W Carr
May 15, 2015·Applied Optics·Maxime ChambonneauLaurent Lamaignère
May 15, 2015·Optics Express·Eyal FeigenbaumManyalibo J Matthews
Jul 21, 2015·Applied Optics·Andrew BrownJoseph Talghader
Oct 21, 2015·Applied Optics·Eyal FeigenbaumManyalibo J Matthews

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Citations

May 4, 2016·Optics Express·Stavros G DemosManyalibo J Matthews
Jul 15, 2016·Optics Express·Eyal FeigenbaumManyalibo J Matthews
Aug 10, 2016·Optics Express·Jae-Hyuck YooSelim Elhadj
May 5, 2017·Optics Express·Eyal FeigenbaumManyalibo J Matthews
Jun 2, 2018·Optics Letters·Pierre GruaJérôme Néauport

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