Abstract
We investigated chemical etching as a possible means to mitigate the growth of UV laser-induced surface damage on fused silica. The intent of this work is to examine the growth behavior o f existing damage sites that have been processed to remove the UV absorbing, thermo-chemically modified material within the affected area. The study involved chemical etching of laser-induced surface damage sites on fused silica substrates, characterizing the etched sites using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser fluorescence, and testing the growth behavior of the etched sites upon illumination with multiple pulses of 351nm laser light. The results show that damage sites that have been etched to depths greater than about 9 μm have about a 40% chance for zero growth with 1000 shots at fluences of 6.8-9.4 J/cm 2. For the etched sites that grow, the growth rates are consistent with those for non-etched sites. There is a weak dependence of the total fluorescence emission with the etch depth of a site, but the total fluorescence intensity from an etched site is not well correlated with the propensity of the site to grow. Deep wet etching shows some promise for mitigating damage growth in fused silica, but fluorescence does not seem to be a good indicator of successful mitigation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
Editors | G.J. Exarhos, A.H. Guenther, M.R. Kozlowski, K.L. Lewis, M.J. Soileau |
Pages | 553-559 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Volume | 4347 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | 32nd Annual Boulder Damage Symposium - Laser-Induced Damaged in Optical Materials: 2000 - Boulder, CO, United States Duration: Oct 16 2000 → Oct 18 2000 |
Other
Other | 32nd Annual Boulder Damage Symposium - Laser-Induced Damaged in Optical Materials: 2000 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Boulder, CO |
Period | 10/16/00 → 10/18/00 |
Keywords
- Chemical etching
- Damage growth mitigation
- Fluorescence diagnostics
- Laser damage
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Condensed Matter Physics