On the occasion of the SPIE Laser Damage Symposium - Forty Fifth Annual Symposium on Optical Materials for High Power Lasers

摘要

On behalf of co-chairs of this meeting, Gregory Exarhos, Joseph Menapace, Detlev Ristau, M. J. Soileau, and me, I extend a hearty welcome to all participants of SPIE Laser Damage Symposium - the Forty Fifth Annual Symposium on Optical Materials for High-Power Lasers held at the NIST facility in Boulder, Colorado. Since the first meeting organized by two co-founders - Art Guenther and Alex Glass - in 1969, the symposium has been performing the role of major international platform for lively discussions and communications between researchers and engineers from academics, industry and military related to all aspects of laser-induced damage. Fluctuating from year to year, the number of presentations has the strong trend to increase indicating the enormous vitality of this field and the continuously growing interest to the related topics. Among motivations of doing research in this field are continuous extension of the domain of available laser parameters towards shorter pulses, shorter wavelengths, and higher powers; development of novel lasers; and operation of the traditional lasers in new environments and conditions. The amazing progress towards ultrashort laser pulses provides novel capabilities for better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of laser-material interactions that initiate laser damage in optical materials. Also, modern ultrafast laser systems have enabled development of multiple novel techniques and methods for characterization of optical properties of various materials that are employed in high-power lasers. Rapid progress in various fields of material science has resulted in novel optical materials (e.g., nanostructured surfaces and components for 3D meta-optics) with high potential of applications in high-power laser systems. All those developments continuously support interest to the field of laser damage that is very likely to stay popular even in the following decades.