Analysis of energy deposition and damage mechanisms in single layers of HfO2 and Nb2O5 submitted to 500fs pulses

Laser Induced Damage Thresholds and morphologies of damage sites on thin films samples irradiated by sub-ps pulses are studied based on experimental and numerical studies. Experiments are conducted with 500fs pulses at 1030nm and 343nm and the irradiated sites are analyzed with phase imaging, AFM and SEM. The results are compared to simulations of energy deposition in the films based on the Single Rate Equation taking account transient optical properties of the films. Results suggest that a critical absorbed energy as a damage criterion give consistent results both with the measured LIDT and the observed damage morphologies.