Lyu Haibing

The Structure Evolution of Fused Silica Induced by CO2 Laser Irradiation

The structure evolution of fused silica induced by CO2 laser irradiation (with a wavelength of 10.6 μm) is studied in detail. In the non-evaporation mitigation process, the irradiation time should be long enough to completely eliminate damage. However, there is a raised rim around the mitigated site. The rim height is enhanced when the irradiation time increases, and the mitigated site can lead to off-axis and on-axis downstream light intensification. Volume shrinkage occurs during the irradiation and rapid cooling processes, and this may be due to a decrease in the Si—O—Si bond angle. The distribution of debris overlaps with the maximum phase retardance induced by stress. The debris arouses an enhanced light absorption in the region from 220 nm to 800 nm.

Laser Cleaning Techniques for Removing Surface Particulate Contaminants on Sol-Gel SiO2 Films

Dry laser cleaning (DLC) and laser shockwave cleaning (LSC) are used to remove the particulate contamination from SiO2 sol-gel optical films. The results show that the LSC with a shockwave initiated by plasma formation under a focused laser beam pulse offers much better efficiency than DLC. Silica particles up to 10μm on SiO2 films can be removed without substrate damage at a gap distance of 0.5 mm, and a more uniform surface microstructure can be obtained after LSC. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the transmittance of contaminated SiO2 films can be restored to the as-deposited value after the LSC on dispersed-particle zones. LSC has potential applications in engineering-oriented large components.