Effect of temporal pulse shape on optical damage

Abstract

The conditions under which optical materials are susceptible to laser-induced damage is a topic which has been the subject of considerable study. Laser parameters such as wavelength and temporal pulse duration have been studied extensively. Until this work the effect of temporal pulse shape has not been considered. The authors present here data from a simple single-parameter model and a supporting experiment which predicts that a flat-in-time pulse will produce damage at approximately 80% of the fluence of a Gaussian pulse of the same duration.