Coupling effect of multi-wavelength lasers in damage performance of beam splitters at 355 nm and 1064 nm

The coupling effect between a 355 nm laser and a 1064 nm laser in damage initiation and morphology formation was investigated on beam splitters. When extra 1064 nm pulse energy was low, 355 nm laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) increased because of laser conditioning, and when 1064 nm pulse energy was high enough, 355 nm LIDTs decreased. Damage morphologies were also studied to explore the damage mechanism at respective wavelengths. For the entirely different electric field intensity distributions, 355 nm laser-induced damages were mainly from nanometer-sized absorbers at upper interfaces, while initiators for the 1064 nm laser were located at substrate-coating interface or substrate subsurface. Under simultaneous illumination, the sensitive defects were still the precursors, and damages also showed the representative damage characteristics induced by a single laser, namely, 355 nm laser-induced small pits and 1064 nm laser-induced large delamination. Further studies also showed that, although the 1064 nm laser fluence was kept unchanged, delamination area grew with the increase of pits, which were induced by the 355 nm laser. A possible mechanism was proposed to interpret the delamination area growth phenomenon.