Va. Astapenko et Oe. Sidoryuk, DETECTION OF LASER DAMAGE TO THE SURFACES OF MATERIALS AND COATINGS WITH THE AID OF AN INDUCED GAS-DISCHARGE, Quantum electronics, 27(7), 1997, pp. 592-595
A method for detection of laser damage to the surfaces of optical mate
rials and coatings was investigated. The damage was detected with the
aid of a gas discharge induced by the products of a laser ablation plu
me, A suitable selection of the parameters of the detection system mad
e it possible to investigate laser surface damage at radiation intensi
ties W > 130 MW cm(-2) (lambda = 1.06 mu m, t(p) = 10 ns). A special f
eature of the electric response was that the result was determined sol
ely by the occurrence of damage and not by its nature or by the laser
damage threshold. This feature makes the method suitable for automatic
damage detection systems used in statistical investigations.