Sol-gel optical thin films for an advanced megajoule-class Nd:glass laser ICF-driver

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:552077

Floch, H G; Belleville, P F ^[1]; Pegon, P M; Guerain, J ^[2]

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1. CEA Limeil-Valenton, Velleneuve Saint Georges (France)
2. REOSC - groupe SFIM, Saint Pierre du Perray (France); and others

It is well established by manufacturers and users that optical coatings are generally prepared by the well known Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) technology. In the authors` opinion sol-gel technology is an effective and competitive alternative. The aim of this paper is to emphasize on the sol-gel thin film work carried out at CEA Limeil-Valenton and concerning the technology for high power lasers. The authors will briefly discuss the chemistry of the sol-gel process, the production of optical coatings and the related deposition techniques. Finally, the paper describes performance of sol-gel optical coatings the authors have developed to fulfill the requirements of a future 1.8 MJ / 500 TW (351 nm) pulsed Nd:glass laser so-called << LMJ >> (Laser MegaJoules). This powerful laser is to be used for their national Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program, to demonstrate at the laboratory scale, ignition of deuterium-tritium fusion fuel. Moreover, the aim of this article is, hopefully, to provide a convincing argument that coatings and particularly optical coatings, are some of the useful products available from sol-gel technology, and that exciting developments in other areas than high power laser technology are almost certain to emerge within the coming decade.

• Research Organization: International Society for Optical Engineering, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 552077
• Report Number(s): CONF-9510106--Vol.2714
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
COATINGS
COLLOIDS
DEPOSITION
LASER RADIATION
NEODYMIUM LASERS
OPTICAL SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE
SOL-GEL PROCESS
THIN FILMS