Design of a production process to enhance optical performance of 3ω optics

Using the Phoenix pre-production conditioning facility we have shown that raster scanning of 3omega optics using a XeF excimer laser and mitigation of the resultant damage sites with a CO2 laser can enhance their optical damage resistance. Several large-scale (43 cm x 43 cm) optics have been processed in this facility. A production facility capable of processing several large optics a week has been designed based on our experience in the pre-production facility. The facility will be equipped with UV conditioning lasers - 351-mn XeF excimer lasers operating at 100 Hz and 23 ns. The facility will also include a CO2 laser for damage mitigation, an optics stage for raster scanning large-scale optics, a damage mapping system (DMS) that images large-scale optics and can detect damage sites or precursors as small as approximate to15 mum, and two microscopes to image damage sites with approximate to5 mum resolution. The optics will be handled in a class 100 clean room, within the facility that will be maintained at class 1000.