Measurement of optical scattered power from laser-induced shallow pits on silica.

A model describing far-field scattered power and irradiance by a silica glass slab with a shallow-pitted exit surface is experimentally validated. The comparison to the model is performed using a precisely micromachined ensemble of similar to 11 mu m wide laser ablated shallow pits producing 1% of the incident beam scatter in a 10 mrad angle. A series of samples with damage initiations and laser-induced shallow pits resulting from 351 nm, 5 ns pulsed laser cleaning of metal microparticles at different fluences between 2 J/cm(2) and 11 J/cm(2) are characterized as well and found in good agreement with model predictions. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America