In a paper presented at the 1992 Boulder Damage Symposium, we discussed the role of electric field effects, defect type, surface roughness, film thickness and coating absorption on the laser damage thresholds of sinusoidally modulated, plasma deposited, silicon oxy-nitride narrow band reflectors. We concluded that the damage threshold, which was essentially constant at 2 J/cm2 at the test wavelength of 0.532 micrometers , was defect dominated. A sizeable fraction of the damage events occurred at a particular type of defect--a hemispherical hillock feature typically 5 micrometers in diameter as identified by SEM and interferometric surface profiling. We postulated that this defect initiated damage because of either a microlensing effect or an enhanced electric field effect. We have since measured the laser damage thresholds of all these samples at 1.064 micrometers , and found significant variations in the damage thresholds, which were a factor of three higher on average than those at 0.532 micrometers . The microlens model presented can explain damage thresholds up to a factor of four higher at the longer wavelength, and predicts a minimum nodule height for increased damage susceptibility. The minimum nodule height is dependent on the wavelength and the coating average index. The wavelength scaling of the fluence enhancement and the minimum nodule height imply that nodule initiated damage will become an even more serious problem as the wavelength approaches the UV.
A series of sinusoidally modulated, plasma deposited, silicon oxy-nitride, narrow band reflectors have been examined with a view to understanding the relative roles of electric field effects, defect type, surface roughness, thickness, and coating absorption on the laser damage threshold. The damage threshold measurements were made at 0.532 micrometers with a range of spot sizes, a pulse length of 15 ns (full width at half maximum intensity), and each site was tested with 100 shots at a 10 Hz repetition rate. The damage threshold was essentially constant at around 2 J/cm2 for all the samples, and was defect dominated. Three types of topological defects were discovered using a WYKO three dimensional surface profiler, and one of the defect types was responsible for a large fraction of the damage events. It is postulated that this 5 micrometers hemispherical defect may behave either as a microlens which enhances the peak fluence that the underlying coating is subjected to, or as a center for enhanced electric field effects.
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