Improving the laser-induced damage threshold of 532-nm antireflection coating using plasma ion cleaning

摘要

BK7 glass substrates were precleaned by different cleaning procedures before being loaded into a vacuum chamber, and then a series of plasma ion cleaning procedures were conducted at different bias voltages in the vacuum chamber, prior to the deposition of 532-nm antireflection (AR) coatings. The plasma ion cleaning process was implemented by the plasma ion bombardment from an advanced plasma source. The surface morphology of the plasma ion-cleaned substrate, as well as the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the 532-nm AR coating was investigated. The results indicated that the LIDT of 532-nm AR coating can be greatly influenced by the plasma ion cleaning energy. The plasma ion cleaning with lower energy is an attractive method to improve the LIDT of the 532-nm AR coating, due to the removal of the adsorbed contaminations on the substrate surface, as well as the removal of part of the chemical impurities hidden in the surface layer, r