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- 2005 (9) (entfernen)
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Schlagworte
- Coatings (1)
- Doping thin films (1)
- Laser ablation (1)
- Laser beam machining (1)
- Laser materials (1)
- Laser-induced damage (1)
- Polymers-radiation effects (1)
- Ultrafast phenomena (1)
In this paper, safety-related experiments with ultra-short laser pulses (down to 30 fs) on various components
(goggles, curtains) for laser protection are presented. The damage and failure behaviour of
protective devices has been investigated dependent on practical conditions such as pulse duration, laser
.uence, pulse number, and repetition rate.
The e.ects of laser-irradiation on materials can be roughly divided into transient ones like laserinduced
transmission (LIT) or short-lived colour centres and permanent damages like the stable colour
centres and ablation. The former e.ects are particularly important for transparent devices like laser
goggles.
To obtain a complete overview on laser safety issues and the prevention of failure there are two
important .elds of investigation:
1. the e.ects of laser radiation on human eyes and skin, and
2. on the possible protection materials.
Both .elds have been addressed during the recently .nished German project SAFEST (safety aspects
in femtosecond technology). The amount of safety data available in the ultrashort pulse region has
been increased remarkably. This allows for a re-evaluation of known laser protection materials for this
region of pulse durations and for the evaluation of new designs that promise high protection levels
while being light-weight and convenient to use.
Femto- and nanosecond laser ablation of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and PMMA doped with a linear absorber was
investigated in the infrared spectral region. Ablation thresholds were determined and incubation phenomena were identified. The
degree of incubation was calculated employing a phenomenological model. The influence of the pulse duration on the
machining quality of the polymers was examined. The presence of an absorbing chromophore is not a prerequisite for a
controllable fs-laser structuring in contrast to the ns-treatment. Surface swelling always accompanied ablation.
On the damage behavior of dielectric films when illuminated with multiple femtosecond laser pulses
(2005)
The physical effects reducing the damage threshold of dielectric films when exposed to multiple femtosecond pulses are investigated.
The measured temperature increase of a Ta2O5 film scales exponentially with the pulse fluence. A polarized luminescence signal is observed that
depends quadratically on the pulse fluence and is attributed to twophoton excitation of self-trapped excitons that form after band-to-band
excitation. The damage fluence decreases with increasing pulse number, but is independent of the repetition rate from 1 Hz to 1 kHz at a constant
pulse number. The repetition rate dependence of the breakdown threshold is also measured for TiO2 , HfO2,
Al2O3, and SiO2 films. A theoretical model is presented that explains these findings.
Near-ablation threshold investigations focusing on the generation of periodic nanostructures and their correlation with physico-chemical
properties of the solid phase such as e.g., the material-dependent surface energy, were conducted. Molecular dynamic modelling in the
sub-picosecond time domain was used to consider ultrafast opto-electronic processes triggering surface reorganization reactions.
Fluid containment of solid interfaces showed strong influence on the resulting micro- and nanostructures due to its drastic reduction of the
surface energy. The phenomena are discussed in respect to the minimization of the surface free energy in dependence of material composition
and interfacial structure.