Improved Si-Based Coating Materials for High Power Infrared Lasers

摘要

Data are presented to demonstrate that alloying of Si with H during thin film coating deposition reduces coating absorption at important infrared laser wavelenghts as 1.06, 1.315 and 2.7 mu m by more than an order of magnitude compared to pure Si coatings. These results contradict earlier beliefs that the presence of H in Si was undesirable because of its association with H sub 2 O. It appears that absorption values approaching state-of-the-art for near-infrared coatings can now be obtained for a material with many attractive physical properties such as very high refractive index, outstanding hardness and scratch-resistance, glassy structure, non-hygroscopicity and general environmental stability and durability. (ERA citation 07:044236)