Improving the laser-induced damage threshold of 532-nm antireflection coating using plasma ion cleaning

BK7 glass substrates were precleaned by different cleaning procedures before being loaded into a vacuum chamber, and then a series of plasma ion cleaning procedures were conducted at different bias voltages in the vacuum chamber, prior to the deposition of 532-nm antireflection (AR) coatings. The plasma ion cleaning process was implemented by the plasma ion bombardment from an advanced plasma source. The surface morphology of the plasma ion-cleaned substrate, as well as the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the 532-nm AR coating was investigated. The results indicated that the LIDT of 532-nm AR coating can be greatly influenced by the plasma ion cleaning energy. The plasma ion cleaning with lower energy is an attractive method to improve the LIDT of the 532-nm AR coating, due to the removal of the adsorbed contaminations on the substrate surface, as well as the removal of part of the chemical impurities hidden in the surface layer. (C) 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)