The pulse length must now be compensated for. The longer the pulse duration, the more energy the optic can handle. For pulse widths between 1 - 100 ns, an approximation is as follows:

The reflectance of surfaces can be greatly improved by the addition of an HR coating; however, performance will depend on both the wavelength and the angle of incidence (AOI). At high AOIs, the performance will also depend on the polarization of the incident light. Information about the reflectance of each HR coating can be found in the tables below.

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While this rule of thumb provides a general trend, it is not a quantitative analysis of LIDT vs wavelength. In CW applications, for instance, damage scales more strongly with absorption in the coating and substrate, which does not necessarily scale well with wavelength. While the above procedure provides a good rule of thumb for LIDT values, please contact Tech Support if your wavelength is different from the specified LIDT wavelength. If your power density is less than the adjusted LIDT of the optic, then the optic should work for your application.

Broadband HR CoatingsThorlabs offers a number of broadband HR coatings optimized for various performance parameters. The graph below shows the specified wavelength range of Thorlabs' in-house broadband HR coatings. Click on the bars in the graph below to view the performance plot for each coating. Click here for a raw data file that compares all of our broadband HR Coatings.

The calculation above assumes a uniform beam intensity profile. You must now consider hotspots in the beam or other non-uniform intensity profiles and roughly calculate a maximum power density. For reference, a Gaussian beam typically has a maximum power density that is twice that of the uniform beam (see lower right).

Our Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) deposition chamber is the most recent addition to our line-up of coating tools. This process uses a high energy, radio frequency, plasma source to sputter coating materials and deposit them on substrates while another RF ion source (Assist source) provides IAD function during deposition. The sputtering mechanism can be characterized as momentum transfer between ionized gas molecules from the ion source and the atoms of the target material. This is analogous to a cue ball breaking a rack of billiard balls, only on a molecular scale and with several more balls in play.

As previously stated, pulsed lasers typically induce a different type of damage to the optic than CW lasers. Pulsed lasers often do not heat the optic enough to damage it; instead, pulsed lasers produce strong electric fields capable of inducing dielectric breakdown in the material. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to compare the LIDT specification of an optic to your laser. There are multiple regimes in which a pulsed laser can damage an optic and this is based on the laser's pulse length. The highlighted columns in the table below outline the relevant pulse lengths for our specified LIDT values.

The following is a general overview of how laser induced damage thresholds are measured and how the values may be utilized in determining the appropriateness of an optic for a given application. When choosing optics, it is important to understand the Laser Induced Damage Threshold (LIDT) of the optics being used. The LIDT for an optic greatly depends on the type of laser you are using. Continuous wave (CW) lasers typically cause damage from thermal effects (absorption either in the coating or in the substrate). Pulsed lasers, on the other hand, often strip electrons from the lattice structure of an optic before causing thermal damage. Note that the guideline presented here assumes room temperature operation and optics in new condition (i.e., within scratch-dig spec, surface free of contamination, etc.). Because dust or other particles on the surface of an optic can cause damage at lower thresholds, we recommend keeping surfaces clean and free of debris. For more information on cleaning optics, please see our Optics Cleaning tutorial.

The spectral performance and other key characteristics of optical thin films are determined by the structure and number of layers in the coating, the refractive indices of the materials used, and the optical properties of the substrate.

Since there are no step changes in the refractive index, the incident light is able to travel from the air to the bulk glass with virtually no Fresnel reflections. As a result, textured optics can achieve significantly higher transmission than un-textured optics. Thorlabs currently offers three surfaces for stock optics (see the table below for details).

Thorlabs' textured AR surfaces are created by removing material from the bulk optic substrate using our proprietary process, which has been optimized to fabricate subwavelength structures. The surface that remains consists of roughly conical nanostructures, with irregular spacing and varied height. These nanostructures produce a smooth gradient of the effective refractive index.

Laser Line and Bandpass filters transmit light in a narrow, well-defined spectral region while rejecting other unwanted radiation. This type of filter displays very high transmission in the bandpass region and blocks a limited spectral range of light on either side of the bandpass region. To compensate for this deficiency, an additional blocking component is added, which is either an all-dielectric or a metal-dielectric depending on the requirements of the filter. Although this additional blocking component eliminates any unwanted out-of-band radiation, it also reduces the filter's overall transmission throughput.

When pulse lengths are between 1 ns and 1 µs, laser-induced damage can occur either because of absorption or a dielectric breakdown (therefore, a user must check both CW and pulsed LIDT). Absorption is either due to an intrinsic property of the optic or due to surface irregularities; thus LIDT values are only valid for optics meeting or exceeding the surface quality specifications given by a manufacturer. While many optics can handle high power CW lasers, cemented (e.g., achromatic doublets) or highly absorptive (e.g., ND filters) optics tend to have lower CW damage thresholds. These lower thresholds are due to absorption or scattering in the cement or metal coating.

The first and one of the most critical steps of our process is cleaning uncoated substrates with an automated ultrasonic clean line. Using a series of ultrasonic solvent and detergent baths, each step of the cleaning process removes different types of contamination from the surfaces of the substrate. This ensures surface contamination does not interfere with adhesion of coatings to the substrate.

Edgepass filters are very useful for isolating specific spectral regions. Longpass filters transmit wavelengths longer than the cutoff wavelenght and block wavelengths shorter than the cutoff wavelength. Shortpass filters block wavelengths longer than the cutoff wavelength and transmit those shorter than the cutoff wavelength.

Pulsed lasers with high pulse repetition frequencies (PRF) may behave similarly to CW beams. Unfortunately, this is highly dependent on factors such as absorption and thermal diffusivity, so there is no reliable method for determining when a high PRF laser will damage an optic due to thermal effects. For beams with a high PRF both the average and peak powers must be compared to the equivalent CW power. Additionally, for highly transparent materials, there is little to no drop in the LIDT with increasing PRF.

Broadband antireflective (BBAR) coatings consist of multiple layers, alternating between a high index material and a low index material. The layers are deposited on the substrate via electron-beam deposition. The thickness of the layers is optimized, using modeling software, to produce destructive interference between reflected waves and constructive interference between transmitted waves. This results in an optic that has enhanced performance within a specified wavelength band as well as minimal internal reflections (ghosting). Thorlabs' BBAR coatings provide good performance for angles of incidence between 0° and 30° and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.5. Thorlabs currently offers BBAR coatings designed to maximize performance within 8 different wavelength ranges.

Neutral Density (ND) filters attenuate all wavelengths within a range by a certain factor to prevent damage to detecting equipment. Fixed ND filters attenuate the spectra by a fixed amount. Variable ND filters have stepped films at discrete locations to allow for various attenuation depending on the application. Continuous ND filters have a film gradient across the entire filter, which allows for a continuous range of attenuation. Thorlabs offers a selection of both linear and circular variable and continuous ND filters.

The other type of reflectance specification is Average Reflectance (Ravg), which is always quoted over a wavelength range. Ravg is found by measuring the reflectance at wavelengths across the specified range and then averaging the reflectance over wavelength. This specification is insensitive to certain variations between individual coating runs that may not be of interest for broadband applications. If a guarantee of performance at a particular wavelength is needed, then a coating specified by Rabs will be preferable.

The plot below shows reflectance data from four -P01 coatings produced by Thorlabs. While all four meet the average reflectance specification from 450 - 2000 nm, their reflectances differ at specific wavelengths. The variation is largest below 850 nm, where all four coatings have reflectances lower than 96.5%. This kind of behavior is typical of coatings specified by Ravg. Outside of the specified range, the variation can be more pronounced, because the reflectance at those wavelengths is not controlled.

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Damage Threshold and DurabilityBecause the nanostructures comprising Thorlabs' textured surfaces are originally part of the bulk optic, they have substantially higher laser-induced damage thresholds than BBAR coatings. Laser-induced damage at moderate fluence typically originates from the interface between two materials, and the large number of thin-film layers in BBAR coatings increase the likelihood of damage. As our textured surfaces consist of the same material as the bulk, the damage threshold is higher.

Thorlabs expresses LIDT for CW lasers as a linear power density measured in W/cm. In this regime, the LIDT given as a linear power density can be applied to any beam diameter; one does not need to compute an adjusted LIDT to adjust for changes in spot size, as demonstrated by the graph to the right. Average linear power density can be calculated using the equation below.

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Beam diameter is also important to know when comparing damage thresholds. While the LIDT, when expressed in units of J/cm², scales independently of spot size; large beam sizes are more likely to illuminate a larger number of defects which can lead to greater variances in the LIDT [4]. For data presented here, a <1 mm beam size was used to measure the LIDT. For beams sizes greater than 5 mm, the LIDT (J/cm2) will not scale independently of beam diameter due to the larger size beam exposing more defects.

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According to the test, the damage threshold of the mirror was 2.00 J/cm2 (532 nm, 10 ns pulse, 10 Hz, Ø0.803 mm). Please keep in mind that these tests are performed on clean optics, as dirt and contamination can significantly lower the damage threshold of a component. While the test results are only representative of one coating run, Thorlabs specifies damage threshold values that account for coating variances.

Use this formula to calculate the Adjusted LIDT for an optic based on your pulse length. If your maximum energy density is less than this adjusted LIDT maximum energy density, then the optic should be suitable for your application. Keep in mind that this calculation is only used for pulses between 10-9 s and 10-7 s. For pulses between 10-7 s and 10-4 s, the CW LIDT must also be checked before deeming the optic appropriate for your application.

Please note that we have a buffer built in between the specified damage thresholds online and the tests which we have done, which accommodates variation between batches. Upon request, we can provide individual test information and a testing certificate. The damage analysis will be carried out on a similar optic (customer's optic will not be damaged). Testing may result in additional costs or lead times. Contact Tech Support for more information.

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When an optic is damaged by a continuous wave (CW) laser, it is usually due to the melting of the surface as a result of absorbing the laser's energy or damage to the optical coating (antireflection) [1]. Pulsed lasers with pulse lengths longer than 1 µs can be treated as CW lasers for LIDT discussions.

Antireflection Performance Compared to our traditional thin-film broadband antireflective (BBAR) coatings, our textured surfaces exhibit lower reflectance over a broad wavelength range and lower angular sensitivity. The anti-reflection mechanism used in dielectric AR coatings is based on the interference between reflections from subsequent thin film dielectric layers. This behavior is highly dependent on the wavelength of the light, as the refractive indices and thicknesses of each layer are designed to provide the desired phase relationship between reflecting waves. Moreover, the angle of incidence (AOI) affects the effective thickness of each layer that the light interacts with, which leads to a strong dependence on the AOI. As a result, there are limitations on the performance that a BBAR coating can achieve over a broad range of wavelengths and AOIs.

LIDT in linear power density vs. pulse length and spot size. For long pulses to CW, linear power density becomes a constant with spot size. This graph was obtained from [1].

Thorlabs quotes two types of reflectance values for our optical coatings. Absolute Reflectance (Rabs, or simply R) indicates the maximum or minimum reflectance at a specific wavelength or wavelengths. When specified over a wavelength range, it indicates the maximum or minimum reflectance for each wavelength within the range. The reflectance may increase or decrease sharply near the specified wavelengths or wavelength range, as in our V-coatings.

The tables below give the specifications for Thorlabs' in-house antireflection coatings, which are deposited on the surfaces of many optics and fibers in our catalog. However, we also offer optics that are coated by external vendors. As such, the specifications for some of our antireflection coated optics may be slightly different than the specifications given on this page. The AR coating specifications for any individual item are always included in that item's web presentation.

Several coating chambers are outfitted with optical thickness monitoring and crystal thickness monitoring which enable our coatings to meet the stringent specifications required for sensitive applications.

Please note that we have a buffer built in between the specified damage thresholds online and the tests which we have done, which accommodates variation between batches. Upon request, we can provide individual test information and a testing certificate. Contact Tech Support for more information.

Thorlabs offers dielectric and metallic broadband coatings, dielectric narrowband coatings for laser line applications, and high-performance crystalline mirror coatings. We also offer a selection of ultrafast mirrors optimized for femtosecond laser pulse applications.

All Thorlabs edgepass filters are constructed of durable dielectric coatings and will withstand the normal cleaning and handling associated with any high-quality optical component. Their film construction is essentially a modified quarter-wave stack, using interference effects rather than absorption to isolate their spectral bands.

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Thorlabs uses a selection of research-grade spectroscopy instruments to characterize coating performance from the UV to the Far Infrared. In addition to spectroscopy tools, we employ a variety of laser and laser diode sources, power meters, detectors, and polarimeters to test the performance of our optics. Specific metrology systems include Cary 660 FTIR, Cary 5000, PE Lambda 950, and Olis PE 983 IR spectrophotometers, a KLA Tencor surface profilometer, a J.A. Woollam RC2 ellipsometer, Zygo monochromatic interferometers, an Optoflat broadband interferometer for single surface and multi-surface interferometric measurements, a surface scatter instrument, and a custom-built cavity ring down system. All of these tools help us understand our coatings and materials at a molecular level. We build custom setups to test both catalog and OEM parts to ensure every optic we offer performs within the specified range. All metrology instruments are calibrated regularly per the ISO 9001:2015 standard.

Dichroic Beamsplitters are used as beam directors at 45° and are either longpass or shortpass. The longpass variety reflects >90% of the incident light below the design wavelength and transmits >90% of the incident light above the design wavelength. The shortpass variety transmits below the design wavelength, and reflects above the design wavelength. Dichroic beamsplitters are used in many applications, the most common one being fluorescence microscopy.

The energy density of your beam should be calculated in terms of J/cm2. The graph to the right shows why expressing the LIDT as an energy density provides the best metric for short pulse sources. In this regime, the LIDT given as an energy density can be applied to any beam diameter; one does not need to compute an adjusted LIDT to adjust for changes in spot size. This calculation assumes a uniform beam intensity profile. You must now adjust this energy density to account for hotspots or other nonuniform intensity profiles and roughly calculate a maximum energy density. For reference a Gaussian beam typically has a maximum energy density that is twice that of the 1/e2 beam.

Pulses shorter than 10-9 s cannot be compared to our specified LIDT values with much reliability. In this ultra-short-pulse regime various mechanics, such as multiphoton-avalanche ionization, take over as the predominate damage mechanism [2]. In contrast, pulses between 10-7 s and 10-4 s may cause damage to an optic either because of dielectric breakdown or thermal effects. This means that both CW and pulsed damage thresholds must be compared to the laser beam to determine whether the optic is suitable for your application.

V-coatings are multilayer, dielectric, thin-film, AR coatings that are designed to minimize reflectance over a short wavelength range. Surface reflectance rises rapidly on either side of this minimum, which gives the reflectance curve a "V" shape. Compared to the broadband AR coatings, V-coatings achieve lower reflectance over a narrower bandwidth when used within their design AOI range. See the graph to the right for an example of the reflectance of a 633 nm V-coat designed for 0° AOI at various angles. We offer a variety of different V-coatings; see the table below for more information.

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The E01, E02, E03, and E04 dielectric HR coatings offer high reflectance over broad wavelength ranges. Our UV-Enhanced Aluminum coating has an overcoat of MgF2 to increase its average reflectance in the UV portion of the spectrum. The Protected Aluminum coating is an inexpensive solution and has an overcoat of SiO2 to make the aluminum coating suitable for laboratory and industrial use. The Protected Silver coating has the highest reflectance in the visible spectrum and is protected with an SiO2 overcoat to prevent oxidation. The Ultrafast-Enhanced Silver coating is manufactured such that it exhibits a low group delay dispersion. Three gold coating options are offered: protected, MIR enhanced, and unprotected. The Protected Gold coating retains a high reflectance down to 800 nm, while the MIR enhanced gold coating is optimized to reduce losses in the MIR that are commonly found in gold mirrors. Each of these gold coatings is protected by an overcoat that also makes the mirrors easy to clean. The Unprotected Gold coating offers higher reflectance than the protected gold coating, but is slightly more delicate.

Ion-Beam Assisted Deposition (IAD) uses the same E-beam method to evaporate coating materials but with the addition of an ion source to promote nucleation and growth of materials at lower temperatures (20 - 100 °C). The ion source allows temperature-sensitive substrates to be coated. This process also results in a denser coating that is less sensitive to spectral shifting in both humid and dry environmental conditions.

These coatings are formed by vacuum deposition coating techniques and consist of two reflecting stacks, separated by an even-order spacer layer. These reflecting stacks are constructed from alternating layers of high and low refractive index materials, which can have a reflectance in excess of 99.99%. By varying the thickness of the spacer layer and/or the number of reflecting layers, the central wavelength and bandwidth of the filter can be altered.

The dielectric coating on dichroic beamsplitters is the source of their functionality. The alternating layers in the coating are designed to cause constructive interference for those wavelengths to be transmitted and destructive interference for those wavelengths to be reflected. The thickness of the coating and the refractive index of the materials in the layers determine the design wavelength for a given beamsplitter.

When properly handled, textured surfaces can exhibit greater durability than BBAR coatings. Their single-material construction means that they do not suffer from mismatched coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) under temperature cycling and avoid issues with thin-film adhesion that can occur in some AR coatings.

LIDT in energy density vs. pulse length and spot size. For short pulses, energy density becomes a constant with spot size. This graph was obtained from [1].

Now compare the maximum power density to that which is specified as the LIDT for the optic. If the optic was tested at a wavelength other than your operating wavelength, the damage threshold must be scaled appropriately. A good rule of thumb is that the damage threshold has a linear relationship with wavelength such that as you move to shorter wavelengths, the damage threshold decreases (i.e., a LIDT of 10 W/cm at 1310 nm scales to 5 W/cm at 655 nm):

In contrast, the effective index gradient of our textured surfaces is less sensitive to the wavelength and AOI than thin-film interference, allowing for very low reflectance over a broad range of both. See the graphs below for an illustration of this difference.

Now compare the maximum energy density to that which is specified as the LIDT for the optic. If the optic was tested at a wavelength other than your operating wavelength, the damage threshold must be scaled appropriately [3]. A good rule of thumb is that the damage threshold has an inverse square root relationship with wavelength such that as you move to shorter wavelengths, the damage threshold decreases (i.e., a LIDT of 1 J/cm2 at 1064 nm scales to 0.7 J/cm2 at 532 nm):

Handling Precautions and Cleaning Thorlabs' Textured Windows could be contaminated or damaged by moisture, fingerprints, aerosols, or contact with any abrasive material. The windows should only be handled when necessary and always held by the sides using our TZ2 or TZ3 tweezers. Latex gloves or a similar protective covering should be worn to prevent oil from fingers from reaching the structured surface.

Thorlabs' LIDT testing is done in compliance with ISO/DIS 11254 and ISO 21254 specifications.First, a low-power/energy beam is directed to the optic under test. The optic is exposed in 10 locations to this laser beam for 30 seconds (CW) or for a number of pulses (pulse repetition frequency specified). After exposure, the optic is examined by a microscope (~100X magnification) for any visible damage. The number of locations that are damaged at a particular power/energy level is recorded. Next, the power/energy is either increased or decreased and the optic is exposed at 10 new locations. This process is repeated until damage is observed. The damage threshold is then assigned to be the highest power/energy that the optic can withstand without causing damage. A histogram such as that below represents the testing of one BB1-E02 mirror.

Thorlabs' coating facility currently operates four fully automated Electron Beam (E-Beam) deposition systems. These systems use an electron beam source to evaporate a selection of materials such as transition metal oxides (e.g., TiO2, Ta2O5, HfO2, Nb2O5, ZrO2), metal halides (MgF2, YF3), or SiO2. This type of process must be done at elevated temperatures (200 - 250 °C) to achieve good adhesion to the substrate and acceptable material properties in the final coating.

[1] R. M. Wood, Optics and Laser Tech. 29, 517 (1998).[2] Roger M. Wood, Laser-Induced Damage of Optical Materials (Institute of Physics Publishing, Philadelphia, PA, 2003).[3] C. W. Carr et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 127402 (2003).[4] N. Bloembergen, Appl. Opt. 12, 661 (1973).

Notch filters, also commonly referred to as band-stop or band-rejection filters, are designed to transmit most wavelengths but attenuate light within a specific wavelength range (the stop band) to a very low level. They are functionally the inverse of bandpass filters and are made in the same way.

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AR coatings are hard refractory-oxide coatings that minimize surface reflections within specified wavelength ranges when applied to the surface of optical components. Without AR coating, 4% of the light is lost at each optical surface due to reflections. For example, if three uncoated lenses are being used in series, this 4% loss occurs at each of the six optical surfaces. This results in a total loss of 21.7%. If three AR-coated lenses with a "B" coating (Ravg <0.5% per surface) are used instead, the total loss of incident light due to surface reflections is <3%. The use of AR-coated optics improves transmission from 78.3% to greater than 97% in this case. Please note that the 4% loss at the interfaces of uncoated optics is an approximate value that varies greatly with material and angle of incidence (AOI). Please note that the color of the lens does not correlate to the lens’ specifications. The color of each AR coating may vary from batch to batch and is not an indicator of performance.

Thorlabs' dielectric HR coatings, available in broadband and narrowband designs, are hard, refractory, oxide coatings that maximize surface reflections within specified wavelength ranges and at specified angles of incidence. These coatings consist of alternating layers of high- and low-index materials. Using computer models, the thickness of each layer is optimized to produce constructive interference for reflected waves and destructive interference for transmitted waves.

Thorlabs' state-of-the-art, in-house, optical coating department provides us with coating capabilities ranging from metal coatings and antireflective coatings to cutting edge Ion Beam Sputtered (IBS), Radio Frequency (RF) Magnetron Sputtered, and Plasma Assisted coatings. This full-scale facility not only allows us to produce large numbers of our catalog optics in house but also expands our ability to manufacture custom-coated optics to suit a variety of customer needs.

The structure of most coatings resembles a series of discrete alternating layers of high index and low index materials. Different arrangements of stack structure result in different types of coatings (e.g., Bandpass vs. Edgepass vs. BBAR). Fine tuning of layer thicknesses and refractive indices is done to optimize performance characteristics in the wavelength range of interest. Thorlabs has a selection of thin film modeling tools to design, characterize, and optimize many aspects of an individual coating's performance.

The AR Coating Range graph below shows the specified wavelength range of Thorlabs' in-house AR coatings. Click on the bars in the graph below to view the performance plot for each coating.

Crystalline Mirror CoatingsThorlabs Crystalline Solutions currently offers three different GaAs/AlGaAs crystalline coatings optimized for superior mid-IR performance, as well as the ability to create custom crystalline coatings. These high-reflectance mirror coatings are ideal for high-finesse laser cavities, precision interferometry, and high-power laser systems. The specifications below are typical values. Thorlabs offers a selection of concave and plano xtal stable™-coated mirrors from stock. Mirrors with xtal mir™ or xtal therm™ coatings, as well as custom mirrors with xtal stable™ coatings, are made to order by request through Tech Support.

Narrowband Laser Line HR CoatingsThorlabs offers a number of laser line HR coatings optimized for various performance parameters. These dielectric HR coatings offer very high reflectance over specific laser line wavelength ranges.