High-power laser damage in fused silica

Laser-induced damage (LID) at the surface of transparent materials is widely considered the main obstacle in the development of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) facilities. This dissertation is a study, both theoretical and experimental, of LID initiation and propagation at fused silica surfaces.; Numerical simulation of light propagation shows that micro-cracks due to polishing amplify light intensity in their vicinity at the air/glass boundary. The mechanism of light amplification is a combination of partial reflection at air/glass boundaries and constructive interference of the reflected waves. The maximum amplification factor for a single crack is 10.7. Multiple cracks interact cooperatively and generate higher amplification factors. Conical cracks generate amplification factors of 20. The electric field intensity profile at the glass surface due to underlying conical cracks correlates well with observed LID morphology. Light amplification at micro-cracks may also play a role in LID propagation.; LID propagation rates under repetitive illumination are measured. Rear-surface LID propagates from pre-existing damage sites at sub-threshold fluence. Rear-surface propagation rates depend linearly on laser fluence and are independent of environment or beam size. Rear-surface LID propagates faster in the UV than in the IR. Front-surface LID propagation is two orders of magnitude slower than rear-surface propagation. Pump and probe experiments of LID confirm that this difference is due to laser-plasma interactions. At the front-surface, up to 60% of the laser energy is dispersed outside the glass. At the rear-surface, 35% of the laser energy is dispersed outside the glass, thus more energy is available for damage propagation. Based on these observations, a model of LID propagation is developed based on the physics of impact cratering.; Laser-induced transformations of glass are studied. High pressures associated with LID permanently densify fused silica by as much as 20%. It is postulated that densified silica is a different phase than pristine silica and has a different network structure. IR reflection microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and TEM analysis show that front-surface damaged glass transforms into a high-pressure polymorph of SiO₂ where Si is octahedrally coordinated. Less conclusive evidence of this transformation is also found in rear-surface damaged glass.