Influence of surface cracks on laser-induced damage resistance of brittle KH2PO4 crystal

Single point diamond turning (SPDT) currently is the leading finishing method for achieving ultra-smooth surface on brittle KH2PO4 crystal. In this work, the light intensification modulated by surface cracks introduced by SPDT cutting is numerically simulated using finite-difference time-domain algorithm. The results indicate that the light intensification caused by surface cracks is wavelength, crack geometry and position dependent. Under the irradiation of 355nm laser, lateral cracks on front surfaces and conical cracks on both front and rear surfaces can produce light intensification as high as hundreds of times, which is sufficient to trigger avalanche ionization and finally lower the laser damage resistance of crystal components. Furthermore, we experimentally tested the laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) on both crack-free and flawed crystal surfaces. The results imply that brittle fracture with a series of surface cracks is the dominant source of laser damage initiation in crystal components. Due to the negative effect of surface cracks, the LIDT on KDP crystal surface could be sharply reduced from 7.85J/cm(2) to 2.33J/cm(2) (355nm, 6.4ns). In addition, the experiment of laser-induced damage growth is performed and the damage growth behavior agrees well with the simulation results of light intensification caused by surface cracks with increasing crack depths. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America