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Bulk laser-induced damage at 1064 nm has been investigated in KTiOP[O.sub.4] (KTP) and RbTiOP[O.sub.4] (RTP) crystals with a nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Both crystals belong to the same family. Throughout this study, their comparison shows a very similar laser-damage behavior. The evolution of the damage resistance under a high number of shots per site (10,000 shots) reveals a fatigue effect of KTP and RTP crystals. In addition, S-on-1 damage probability curves have been measured in both crystals for all combinations of polarization and propagation direction aligned with the principal axes of the crystals. The results show an influence of the polarization on the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT), with a significantly higher threshold along the z axis, whereas no effect of the propagation direction has been observed. This LIDT anisotropy is discussed with regard to the crystallographic structure. OCIS codes: 140.3330, 260.1180, 160.4330, 160.2100.

Photothermal deflection is used for mapping the absorption of bare and coated surfaces. The same area is mapped before and after coating and also after annealing. The great importance of the substrate with respect to the total losses of the coated component is emphasized. First the influence of surface contamination of the bare substrate on the total absorption of the coated substrate is studied for BK7 and fused-silica substrates. Then the mean value of the coated-substrate absorptance is shown to be strongly dependent on the type of substrate. Experimental results show that this effect is associated with a localization of the absorption at the near surface of the substrate and at the interfaces of the film. Key words: Optical coatings, absorption mapping, surface contamination, interface absorption, substrate absorption.

An integrated setup allowing high resolution photothermal microscopy and laser damage measurements at the same wavelength has been implemented. The microscope is based on photothermal deflection of a transmitted probe beam : the probe beam (633 nm wavelength) and the CW pump beam (1.06 microm wavelength) are collinear and focused through the same objective. In-situ laser irradiation tests are performed thanks to a pulsed beam (1.06 microm wavelength and 6 nanosecond pulse). We describe this new facility and show that it is well adapted to the detection of sub-micronic absorbing defects, that, once located, can be precisely aimed and irradiated. Photothermal mappings are performed before and after shot, on metallic inclusions in dielectric. Results obtained on gold inclusions of about 600 nm in diameter embedded in silica are presented.

Laser damage phenomena in fused silica are currently under study because of numerous related high power laser applications. Nanosized defects are believed to be responsible for some laser damage initiation. In order to predict and to quantify this initiation process, engineered submicronic gold defects were embedded in silica. The study of these samples by localized pulsed irradiation of isolated gold particles coupled with Nomarski, atomic force and photothermal microscope observations permits us to discriminate between two distinct stages of material modification: one detectable at the surface and the second in the neighbourhood of the embedded particle. Comparison between the observations and simulations results in good agreement if we assume that inclusion melting initiates the damage.