Photothermal techniques have been widely used for the measurement and analysis of optical absorption, especially the weak absorption of optical components used for high-power laser applications. In this paper we present the progress in the development of a “turn-key” system for weak absorption measurement and analysis. The system provides userfriendly operations of the whole absorption measurement process. There is no need of manual realignment when changing different samples. Compared with those bench-top systems built in various research laboratories, this system is more reliable and more stable. Different measuring geometries, such as transmission measuring and reflection measuring can be selected depending on application need. Two dimensional defect mapping and three dimensional defect imaging are also made possible, and the experimental results show that non-uniformity is an important issue for both thin film coatings and bulk materials.

Date Published: 9 July 2013
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8786, Pacific Rim Laser Damage 2013: Optical Materials for High Power Lasers, 87861M (9 July 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2020455

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8786:
Pacific Rim Laser Damage 2013: Optical Materials for High Power Lasers
Jianda Shao; Takahisa Jitsuno; Wolfgang Rudolph, Editor(s)