Following customer demand, silicon oxynitride optical coatings were produced by ion beam sputtering (IBS). The multilayer sequence of the samples was designed such that the low refractive index was provided by SiO2, whereas for different designs a different composition of silicon oxynitride (n≈1.5–1.9) was used as high refractive material. This was realized by varying the ratio of the reactive gas components N2 and O2. LIDT measurements were carried out using a pulsed laser (9ns FWHM) @1064nm. Additionally, comparative measurements were carried out with frequency doubled pulses at 532nm. The performances of the designs were compared with their oxide-based QWOT-equivalents.
Plasma ion assisted deposition (PIAD) is a common method for the production of high-end optical interference coatings (OIC). Conventional process control is based on operating parameters like gas fluxes, voltages or currents, while the actual state of the assist plasma is specified imprecisely. The concept of active plasma resonance spectroscopy (APRS) employing the Multipole Resonance Probe (MRP) allows to access plasma conditions in industrial coating environments. This study presents results on the investigation of conventional and APRS-based control concepts for a multilayer OIC, a 36-layer polarizer made of SiO2 and Ta2O5. Process repeatability and its impact on Laser Induced Damage Threshold (LIDT) are addressed.
In the course of the ever-increasing demand of high-performance optical components, dielectric coating processes are the key technology for the refinement of optics, ensuring their functionality. These optics are based on optical interference coatings, which are formed by a layer stack of alternating transparent single layers of high and low refractive index material. Assuming that turbidity as well as defects embedded in coatings are considered as a primary factor limiting the quality of optical coatings, the level of cleaning the substrates before coating has to be extremely high. Particular importance is attached to the interface between the layer stack and the substrate, especially to the interaction during the transition from the glass surface to the coating during the manufacturing process. This interaction is assumed to be caused by polishing, by corrosion during storage time or by effects during cleaning of the substrate before coating. Thus, it is necessary to characterize each type of defect and to define which technique is adequate to analyze each one of them efficiently. The project aims to raise the awareness and knowledge in terms of what happens during the coating process and, in particular, to understand the physical processes at the substrate during the manufacturing process. After analyzing the material flow, first focus was set on the cleaning procedure. It is assumed that one of the main influences on defects in the interface is the chemical cleaning. Chemical reactions on the surface of the glass substrate may occur due to additional effects of external components and elevated temperature in the washing basins.
Today the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) is one of the most important properties of laser components. As laser systems reach higher and higher optical power densities, optical components with improved LIDT values are highly required and their characterization has gained an ever-increasing importance. Many optical components rely on multilayer coating sequences of dielectric materials. Therefore, several design strategies such as the rugate and RISED concept have been applied for highly reflecting layer systems for the design wavelength of 1030 nm and an angle of incidence of 44°. The investigations were based on IBS and PIAD deposition methods using HfO2 and SiO2 for high respectively low refractive index material. A movable zone target was used for IBS in order to allow for direct material mixing to obtain for the rugate and mixed design continuous variations in the refractive index. The IBS designs have been tested for the LIDT at 560 fs and s-polarization and compared to those produced by PIAD. The designs were also tested in cw operation. The highest values for LIDT in pulsed conditions have been found for mixed IBS and PIAD designs with average values up to 2 J/cm2 at 1-on-1 test. The best results at 105 -on-1 test have been achieved by rugate designs with a LIDT of > 1.3 J/cm2 . In CW operation, the samples could be subjected to power densities of up to 1 MW/cm2 without the notification of any damage.
Ion beam sputtering (IBS) is a deposition technique being well known for resulting in very dense and damage resistant
coatings due to high kinetic energies of the sputtered atoms. While different layers are deposited homogeneously, abrupt
interfaces between the materials are the most susceptible part of the stack. Therefore we aim for an improvement of the
laser damage threshold by sputtering material mixtures. Using a target with high- and low-index material next to each
other, arbitrary refractive indices can be realized by adjusting the target axis. Our material system of choice is HfO2-
SiO2, already yielding good results with non-rugate coatings. A comparison in terms of laser damage threshold between
these designs and varying refractive index coatings will be shown.
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