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Abstract: The impact of two organic contamination modes of toluene on the damage characteristics of a high reflective film (HR) at 1064nm is investigated. The laser-induced damage modifications of HR films are locally analyzed by the Raman techniques, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It is found that liquid phase toluene decreases laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) and gaseous phase toluene seems to be benign and increases the LIDT of the HR film. A possible damage mechanism is analyzed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residual stress in ZrO2 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation was measured by viewing the substrate deformation using an optical interferometer. The influences of deposition temperature and deposition rate on the residual stress have been studied. The results show that residual stress in ZrO2 thin films varies from tensile to compressive depending on deposition temperature and deposition rate, respectively. The value of compressive stress increases with the increasing of deposition temperature and deposition rate. At the same time, X-ray diffraction measurement was carried out in order to examine the crystallization behavior of the ZrO2 thin films as a function of deposition temperature and deposition rate. The relationship between the residual stress and the microstructure has also been discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: HfO2 films, using metal hafnium as starting material, are deposited by plasma-ion assisted electron evaporation with different Advanced Plasma Source (APS) bias voltages. The refractive index and extinction coefficient are calculated, the chemical state and composition, as well as the stress and aging behavior is investigated. Laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) and damage mechanism are also evaluated and discussed. Optical, structural, mechanical and laser induced damage properties of HfO2 films are found to be sensitive to APS bias voltage. The film stress can be tuned by varying the APS bias voltage. Damage morphologies indicate the LIDT of the HfO2 films at 1064nm and 532nm are dominated by the nodular-defect density in coatings, while the 355nm LIDT is dominated by the film absorption. HfO2 films with higher 1064nm LIDT than samples evaporated from hafnia are achieved with bias voltage of 100V. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Growth stress in hafnium oxide/silicon dioxide (HfO2/SiO2) multilayers was measured in situ to understand the role of the sublayers and the influence of the underlayers'' structural features. Experiments using three- and six-layer films were performed by electron-beam evaporation. During deposition, the developing trend of the force per unit width was controlled by changing the thickness ratio of the HfO2 and SiO2 layers. The substrate material affected the initial stress evolution of HfO2 film. The structural feature of the HfO2 layer onto which SiO2 was deposited and the whole film thickness have a combined effect on the stress evolution of the SiO2 layer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) thin films were deposited on borosilicate crown glass substrates using electron beam evaporation technique and controlling technological parameters: deposition rate and oxygen partial pressure. Spectrophotometry, optical interferometry and X-ray diffraction were used to investigate how the thin film optical properties, residual stresses, and structure depend on these parameters. The results showed that the deposition rate had a significant influence on the increase of the refractive index of YSZ thin films while the oxygen partial pressure had less influence on it. In all samples, the tensile stress increased with the increasing of deposition rate and the decreasing of oxygen partial pressure. Meanwhile, all deposited films were poly-crystallizations, while crystallite size and preferential orientation of YSZ thin films changed as a function of deposition rate and oxygen partial pressure. The variations of the optical spectra and residual stress corresponded to the evolution of the film structures induced by the deposition parameters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Laser-induced damages to TiO2 single layers and TiO2/SiO2 high reflectors at laser wavelength of 1064 nm, 800 nm, 532 nm, and pulse width of 12 ns, 220 ps, 50 fs, 8 ns are investigated. All films are prepared by electron beam evaporation. The relations among microstructure, chemical composition, optical properties and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT), have been researched. The dependence of damage mechanism on laser wavelength and pulse width is discussed. It is found that from 1064 nm to 532 nm, LIDT is mainly absorption related, which is determined by film''s extinction coefficient and stoichiometric defects. The rapid decrease of LIDT at 800 nm is due to the pulse width factor. TiO2 coatings are mainly thermally by damaged at long pulse (τ ≥220 ps). The damage shows ablation feature at 50 fs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of silver films with different thickness were prepared under identical conditions by direct current magnetron sputtering. The optical properties of the silver films were measured using spectrophotometric techniques and the optical constants were calculated from reflection and transmission measurements made at near normal incidence. The results show that the optical properties and constants are affected by films'' thickness. Below the critical thickness of 17 nm at which Ag film forms a continuous film, the optical properties and constants vary significantly as the thickness of films increases and then tends to a stable value which is reached at 41 nm. X-ray diffraction measurements were carried out to examine the structure and stress evolution of the Ag films as a function of films'' thickness. It was found that the interplanar distance of (111) orientation decreases when the film thickness increases and tends to be close to that of bulk material. The compressive strains also decrease with increasing thickness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: ZrO2 films were prepared by electron beam evaporation with glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique. The as-deposition and annealed ZrO2 films are all amorphous, different from that deposited at normal incidence. Due to the shadowing effect, a highly orientated structure composed of slanted columns formed, and the obtained films became the mixture of slanted columns and voids. The relationship among the effective refractive index, packing density and flux incident angle was investigated. The refractive index and packing density of ZrO2 films decrease with the increase of the incident angle. The in-plane birefringence of GLAD ZrO2 films was calculated. At the packing density of 0.576, the maximum birefringence is 0.037. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: CO2 laser irradiation experiments on ZnO thin films are reported. The structural, optical, luminescent and vibrational properties of the samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmittance, photoluminescence (PL) and Raman measurements. XRD results show that the crystalline of the irradiated films was improved. The (002) peaks of irradiated ZnO films shift to higher 2θ angles due to the stress relaxation in the case of laser beam irradiation. From optical transmittance spectra, all films exhibit high transmittance in the visible range, the optical band edge of irradiated films showed a redshift compared with that of as-grown films. Compared with the as-grown films, the photoluminescence emission (in particular the relative intensities of visible emissions) intensities of irradiated samples enhanced. In the Raman scattering spectra, both the A1 and E2 modes exhibited slight Raman blueshift. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effects of oxygen partial pressure on the structure and photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO films were studied. The films were prepared by direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering with various oxygen concentrations at room temperature. With increasing oxygen ratio, the structure of films changes from zinc and zinc oxide phases, single-phase ZnO, to the (002) orientation, and the mechanical stresses exhibit from tensile stress to compressive stress. Films deposited at higher oxygen pressure show weaker emission intensities, which may result from the decrease of the oxygen vacancies and zinc interstitials in the film. This indicates that the emission in ZnO film originates from the oxygen vacancy and zinc interstitial-related defects. From optical transmittance spectra of ZnO films, the plasma edge shifts towards the shorter wavelength with the improvement of film stoichiometry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Deeper understanding of moisture-induced instability of electron-beam coatings was achieved by prolonging the originally rapid water adsorption process with a dense capping layer. • Water transport in electron-beam coatings included four steps: filling, stabilization, swelling and refilling. • Water molecule content and structure evolution led to the increasing compressive stress evolution at the first stage and subsequent transition from compressive to tensile stress evolution. • A model based on the finite element method was proposed to calculate the water vapor transmission rate of electron-beam coatings. The moisture-induced instability of electron-beam (e-beam) coating can even result in the performance instability of a large laser system. A dense plasma-ion-assisted-deposition SiO 2 capping layer was employed to isolate the top surface of the coating from ambient humidity and extend the originally rapid water adsorption process, allowing a deeper understanding of the instability of e-beam coatings caused by moisture. Spectral measurements suggested that four water adsorption steps, including filling, stabilization, swelling and refilling, led to the overall redshift and short-term fluctuations in spectra. The stress and Fourier transform infrared analysis revealed that water adsorption and ice-like/ice structure water was responsible for the increasing compressive stress evolution at the first stage and subsequent transition from compressive to tensile stress evolution, respectively. A model based on the finite element method was proposed to calculate the water vapor transmission rate of e-beam coatings. Our study on the underlying mechanism of moisture-induced instability of e-beam coating is helpful to ensure the reliability and stability of large laser systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]