Test station development for laser-induced optical damage performance of broadband multilayer dielectric coatings

Abstract

Laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) testing was performed on commercially-available multilayer dielectric coatings to qualify for use in the High Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System (HAPLS) for Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines. Various tests were performed with uncompressed pulses (150 ps) from a 780 nm-centered Ti:Sapphire regenerative ampliflier, and the raster scan method was used to determine the best-performing coatings. Performance varied from 2–8 J/cm2 across samples from 6 different manufacturers.