Implications of laser beam metrology on laser damage temporal scaling law for dielectric materials in the picosecond regime

Abstract

We report on the implications that the temporal and spatial beam metrologies have on the accuracy of temporal scaling laws of Laser Induced Damage Threshold (LIDT) for dielectric materials in the picosecond regime. Thanks to a specific diagnostic able to measure the temporal pulse shape of subpicosecond and picosecond pulses, we highlight through simulations and experiments how the temporal shape has to be taken into account first in order to correctly understand the temporal dependency of dielectrics LIDT. This directly eases the interpretation of experimental temporal scaling laws of LIDT and improves their accuracy as a prediction means. We also give numerically determined benchmark temporal scaling laws of intrinsic LIDT for SiO₂ (thin film) based on the model developed for this work. Finally, we show as well what kind of spatial metrology is needed during any temporal scaling law determination to take into account potential variations of the spatial profile.