In this paper the preparation of silicon and titanium oxide thin films using an atmospheric pressure plasma process will be reported. To obtain these oxide films hexamethyldisiloxane and titanium tetraisopropoxide were used as precursor materials. Based on the different chemical reaction mechanisms the film deposition processes were carried out in the direct as well as in the remote PACVD mode. The deposition parameters were varied and the influence on different film properties was studied. The deposited oxide films were characterised by profilometry, ellipsometry, SEM, UV-VIS-NIR-transmission measurements. FT-IR spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. Additionally, first results will be presented concerning the creation of composite films using a combination of plasma and liquid dye nebulization technique.
Multiple pulse investigations of 130-fs Ti:sapphire laser-induced damage of a high reflecting mirror consisting of alternating ?/4-layers of Ta2O5 and SiO2 and a single 500-nm Ta2O5 film were performed. In both cases, fused silica served as the substrate. For a fixed number of 1000 laser pulses per spot, a decrease in the damage threshold fluence of the mirror by a factor of two was observed by changing the repetition rate from 10 Hz to 1 kHz. A single 500-nm Ta2O5 film shows higher damage resistance compared to the mirror. The mirror and the Ta2O5 film samples were partially coated with a 300-nm-thick aluminium layer. The aluminium coating does not influence the damage threshold of the dielectrics underneath.