Impact of two CO(2) laser heatings for damage repairing on fused silica surface

Investigation on hybrid laser ablation and its application in fused silica damage mitigation

We present and investigate a hybrid laser-based method of surface shaping for damage mitigation on fused silica surfaces. Damage sites were removed and precisely shaped into an optically-benign cone by a procedure of femtosecond laser ablation with a subsequent CO₂ laser polishing process. The morphology of the cone rim was quantitatively predicted by a numerical model. Since the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the laser polishing process was effectively confined by the optimization of ablation parameters, the dimensions of the raised rim were reduced by an order of magnitude. The intensity of the on-axis hotspot was positively related to the dimensions of the raised rim, and thus an inapparent downstream intensification was achieved by the rim reduction. Laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the cone was tested to be ∼14 J/cm² on the input surface. Therefore, the presented method is appropriate to mitigate damage and also provides a promising approach to manufacturing functional microstructures for high-power applications.

Microscopic three-dimensional inner stress measurement on laser induced damage

A three-dimensional (3-D) residual stress detection technique is proposed to detect and evaluate the residual stress occurring in optical components due to repairs carried out at laser induced damage sites. It is possible with a cross-orthogonal reflective photo-elastic setup to obtain complete 3-D information of the residual shearing stress around the damage site. The damaged volume of the optical component is numerically sliced into multilayers for this purpose and reflected light intensity is recorded from each layer. The shearing stress from the reflected light intensity is then calculated based on photo-elasticity theory. The validity of the approach is also verified in experiments where it could measure 3-D residual stress with an axial resolution of 10 µm along the light path.

Role of tool marks inside spherical mitigation pit fabricated by micro-milling on repairing quality of damaged KH2PO4 crystal

Repairing initial slight damage site into stable structures by engineering techniques is the leading strategy to mitigate the damage growth on large-size components used in laser-driven fusion facilities. For KH₂PO₄ crystals, serving as frequency converter and optoelectronic switch-Pockels cell, micro-milling has been proven the most promising method to fabricate these stable structures. However, tool marks inside repairing pit would be unavoidably introduced due to the wearing of milling cutter in actual repairing process. Here we quantitatively investigate the effect of tool marks on repairing quality of damaged crystal components by simulating its induced light intensification and testing the laser-induced damage threshold. We found that due to the formation of focusing hot spots and interference ripples, the light intensity is strongly enhanced with the presence of tool marks, especially for those on rear surfaces. Besides, the negative effect of tool marks is mark density dependent and multiple tool marks would aggravate the light intensification. Laser damage tests verified the role of tool marks as weak points, reducing the repairing quality. This work offers new criterion to comprehensively evaluate the quality of repaired optical surfaces to alleviate the bottleneck issue of low laser damage threshold for optical components in laser-driven fusion facilities.

Removal of scratches on fused silica optics by using a CO₂laser

We investigate the efficiency of local CO₂laser processing of scratches on silica optics in order to enhance the nanosecond UV-laser damage resistance. The surface deformations induced by the process have been measured for different CO₂laser parameters and then the pulse duration and the beam diameter have been chosen accordingly to limit those deformations below 1 µm. From the study of the laser damage resistance as a function of different material modifications we identify a range of optimal radiation parameters allowing a complete elimination of scratches associated with a high threshold of laser damage. Calculation of the temperature of silica using a two-dimensional axi-symmetric code was compared with experiment, supporting an optimization of the laser parameter as a function of the maximal dimensions of scratches that could be removed by this process.

Method of mitigation laser-damage growth on fused silica surface

A reliable method, combining femtosecond (fs) laser mitigation and chemical (HF) etching, has been developed to mitigate laser-damage growth sites on a fused silica surface. A rectangular mitigation site was fabricated by an fs laser with a raster scan procedure; HF etching was then used to remove the redeposition material. The results show that the mitigation site exhibits good physical qualities with a smooth bottom and edge. The damage test results show that the growth threshold of the mitigation sites increases. Furthermore, the structural characteristic of samples was measured by a photoluminescence (PL) spectrometer, and the light intensification caused by damage and mitigation sites was numerically modeled by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD). It revealed that the removal of damaged material and structure optimization contribute to the increase of the damage growth threshold of the mitigation site.

Evaporation kinetics of laser heated silica in reactive and inert gases based on near-equilibrium dynamics

Evaporation kinetics of fused silica were measured up to ≈3000K using CO(2) laser heating, while solid-gas phase chemistry of silica was assessed with hydrogen, air, and nitrogen. Enhanced evaporation in hydrogen was attributed to an additional reduction pathway, while oxidizing conditions pushed the reaction backwards. The observed mass transport limitations supported use of a near-equilibrium analysis for interpreting kinetic data. A semi-empirical model of the evaporation kinetics is derived that accounts for heating, gas chemistry and transport properties. The approach described should have application to materials laser processing, and in applications requiring knowledge of thermal decomposition chemistry under extreme temperatures.