The sol-gel method, which was first, to the best of our knowledge, described by Ebelmen in 1846, has since been widely used to prepare different kinds of materials[
Chinese Optics Letters, Volume. 20, Issue 1, 011601(2022)
Post-treatment of 351 nm SiO2 antireflective coatings for high power laser systems prepared by the sol-gel method
Different post-treatment processes involving the use of ammonia and hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) were explored for application to 351 nm third harmonic generation
1. Introduction
The sol-gel method, which was first, to the best of our knowledge, described by Ebelmen in 1846, has since been widely used to prepare different kinds of materials[
After studying the post-treatment processes for
2. Experiments
The
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The JGS1 (far ultraviolet silica fused glass, transparent in the range of ultraviolet and visible spectra) substrates with a diameter and thickness of 32 and 7 mm, respectively, were completely immersed in the
All of the JGS1 samples with
Figure 1.Schematic diagram showing post-treatment processes of 3ω AR.
3. Results and Discussion
Typically, the refractive index of silica AR coatings is approximately 1.20, and coating elements with excellent AR performance for
Samples 1–4 were placed in the high temperature, high humidity Espec LH-213 oven for 24 h, where the temperature and relative humidity of the oven were set to 85°C and 85% (85°C/85 RH), respectively. The changes in the performance of the coating were determined under extreme temperature and humidity conditions to simulate experimental conditions. The transmittances of samples 1–4 under different experimental conditions were tested using a Lambda900 spectrophotometer (PerkinElmer, USA). The optical performances of samples 1–4 at different experimental stages are illustrated in Fig. 2; note that the testing range for spectrophotometry was 200–800 nm. The peak transmittance (
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Figure 2.Optical performance of 3ω AR coatings at different experimental stages: (a) sample 1, (b) sample 2, (c) sample 3, (d) sample 4.
The water contact angles of the silica coatings after post-treatment and 30 days after the end of the high temperature, high humidity experiment were measured using the optical contact angle (OCA) 40 system (Dataphysics Instruments, Germany); the results are shown in Fig. 3. For the test, 3 µL deionized water droplets were used, and the coating was in contact with the water droplet for 10 s before being sampled. Hydrophobic groups were formed on the surface of the silica coatings, resulting in good hydrophobic properties after post-treatment. All four samples exhibited contact angles greater than 125° between the silica coating and water droplet; the contact angle of sample 1 was close to 130°, indicating excellent hydrophobic properties. The water contact angles of all samples were maintained at approximately 120° after testing under extreme conditions, which showed that different post-treatment processes can induce better hydrophobicity on the surface of silica coatings.
Figure 3.Water contact angles of the 3ω AR coatings.
The basis of the coating stability was the stability of the coating transmittance and hydrophobicity; however, changes in the surface defects of silica coatings will eventually affect the LIDT of the silica coating[
Figure 4.Defect positions of all samples. (a)–(d) samples 1–4 before 85°C/85 RH treatment, (e)–(h) samples 1–4 after 85°C/85 RH treatment.
The particulate contaminants from motors, lubricants, and organic plasticizers are volatilized inside the vacuum components during experimentation with HPLSs, which will also affect the properties of the sol-gel coatings[
Figure 5.Transmittance spectra before and after contamination: (a) sample 1, (b) sample 2, (c) sample 3, (d) sample 4.
Figure 6.Transmission loss of samples at 351 nm.
The defects in the optical coatings were the main source of damage under long-pulse laser irradiation[
Figure 7.LIDT (355 nm, 6.8 ns) results of the samples.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, post-treatment is an important process in preparing sol-gel coatings for optical elements. This study aimed to optimize the post-treatment process for sol-gel
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Bin Shen, Huai Xiong, Xu Zhang, Zhiya Chen, Xiangyang Pang, Yajing Guo, Chengjie Liang, Haiyuan Li, "Post-treatment of 351 nm SiO2 antireflective coatings for high power laser systems prepared by the sol-gel method," Chin. Opt. Lett. 20, 011601 (2022)
Category: Optical Materials
Received: May. 28, 2021
Accepted: Aug. 17, 2021
Published Online: Oct. 8, 2021
The Author Email: Bin Shen (bingo2011@siom.ac.cn), Huai Xiong (xhuai1998@siom.ac.cn)