New low-absorption coating for MULTI-kW cw laser applications

Due to further increases in laser power, e.g. in industry, medicine or defense, optics with the lowest possible absorption are becoming increasingly important. This prevents thermal lensing or focus shifts and achieves the highest possible laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDT) for the optics. Laser Components can look back on 40 years of experience in optical coating. To further improve the excellent optical properties of its in-house laser optics and to incorporate new findings on LIDT behavior, the company has recently developed several new designs for its anti-reflective coatings.

Thanks to the careful selection of suitable substrates and the individual optimization of layers and layer thicknesses based on the established PIAD technology (plasma ion-assisted deposition), particularly low values of less than 10 to less than 5 ppm are achieved for the absorptivity of the optics. The combination of coating design and subsequent post-processing of the optics at Laser Components ensures stable reflection values and optimizes the microstructure of the coating. Both lead to a further significant improvement in optical properties, such as reduced losses for standard optics and customized optics with consistently excellent transmission stability.