Impact of storage induced outgassing organic contamination on laser induced damage of silica optics at 351 nm

Karell Bien-Aimé (1, 2) , C Belin (3) , Laurent Gallais (4) , Pierre Grua (1) , Evelyne Fargin (2) , Jérôme Neauport (1) , Isabelle Tovena-Pecault (1)

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

The impact of storage conditions on laser induced damage density at 351 nm on bare fused polished silica samples has been studied. Intentionally outgassing of polypropylene pieces on silica samples was done. We evidenced an important increase of laser induced damage density on contaminated samples demonstrating that storage could limit optics lifetime performances. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) have been used to identify the potential causes of this effect. It shows that a small quantity of organic contamination deposited on silica surface is responsible for this degradation. Various hypotheses are proposed to explain the damage mechanism. The more likely hypothesis is a coupling between surface defects of optics and organic contaminants.

Keywords: Lasers and laser optics: laser damage; Optical design and fabrication: polishing; Fused silica; organic contamination; outgassing

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

Karell Bien-Aimé, C Belin, Laurent Gallais, Pierre Grua, Evelyne Fargin, et al.. Impact of storage induced outgassing organic contamination on laser induced damage of silica optics at 351 nm. Optics Express, 2009, 17 (21), pp.18703-18713. ⟨10.1364/OE.17.018703⟩. ⟨cea-01217067⟩