LASER-INDUCED DAMAGE IN SIO2 AND CAF2 WITH PICOSECOND AND FEMTOSECONDLASER-PULSES

Single- and multiple-shot damage thresholds and plasma-emission thresh olds for fused silica and CaF2 are reported for 790 nm photons as a fu nction of laser pulse width (190 fs - 4.5 ps). The results are compare d with single-shot plasma-emission measurements [1] and with multiple- shot damage measurements [2]. Both the damage threshold and the plasma -emission threshold are shown to decrease with decreasing pulse width over the entire pulse-width range investigated.