Fundamental mechanisms of laser induced damage (LID) have been one of the most controversial topics during the forty years of the Boulder Damage Symposium (Ref. 1.) LID is fundamentally a very nonlinear process and sensitive to a variety of parameters including wavelength, pulse width, spot size, focal conditions, material band gap, thermal-mechanical prosperities, and component design considerations. The complex interplay of many of these parameters and sample to sample materials variations combine to make detailed, first principle, models very problematic at best. The phenomenon of self-focusing, the multi spatial and temporal mode structure of most lasers, and the fact that samples are 'consumed' in testing complicate experiential results. This paper presents a retrospective of the work presented at this meeting.

Date Published: 30 December 2008
PDF: 14 pages
Proc. SPIE 7132, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2008, 713201 (30 December 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.804556

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7132:
Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 2008
Gregory J. Exarhos; Detlev Ristau; M. J. Soileau; Christopher J. Stolz, Editor(s)