Laser induced damage of fused silica polished optics due to a droplet forming organic contaminant

Karell Bien-Aimé (1, 2) , Jérôme Neauport (2) , Isabelle Tovena-Pecault (2) , Evelyne Fargin (1) , Christine Labrugère (2) , Colette Belin (3) , Michel Couzi (3)

1 ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux
2 CESTA - Centre d'études scientifiques et techniques d'Aquitaine
3 ISM - Institut des Sciences Moléculaires

We report on the effect of organic molecular contamination on single shot laser induced damage density at the wavelength of 351 nm, with a 3 ns pulse length. Specific contamination experiments were made with dioctylphthalate (DOP) in liquid or gaseous phase, on the surface of fused silica polished samples, bare or solgel coated. Systematic laser induced damage was observed only in the case of liquid phase contamination. Different chemical and morphological characterization methods were used to identify and understand the damage process. We demonstrate that the contaminant morphology, rather than its physicochemical nature, can be responsible for the decrease of laser induced damage threshold of optics.

Keywords: 1606030; OCIS codes: 1203940; 1403330

Domains: Optics / Photonic; Optics [physics.optics]

Karell Bien-Aimé, Jérôme Neauport, Isabelle Tovena-Pecault, Evelyne Fargin, Christine Labrugère, et al.. Laser induced damage of fused silica polished optics due to a droplet forming organic contaminant. Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics, 2009, 48 (12), pp.2228-2235. ⟨10.1364/AO.48.002228⟩. ⟨cea-01217065⟩