Weak absorption test of crystalline materials

1. Why measure weak absorption?

The absorption of optical material or optical film will directly affect the performance of optical system.
The material has thermal lensing effect. As shown in the schematic diagram of focal length change caused by weak absorption of materials, when a lens is irradiated by a strong laser, the medium can periodically convert the absorbed energy into heat energy, which increases the temperature of the material itself and the surrounding medium, thus causing the change of its refractive index, resulting in the change of the focal length of the lens, forming the thermal lens effect, resulting in waveform change, depolarization and other phenomena. And it makes the laser system unstable.

Schematic diagram of focal length changes caused by weak absorption of materials

2. What are the advantages of crystals with weak and low absorption?

Weak absorption values at 1064/532 nm are generally measured.

  • For materials with weak absorption and low absorption, the thermal effect will decrease significantly
  • Crystals with low thermal effect can have more design space in thermal management
  • Crystals with less thermal effect have lower thermal lens effect and less effect on light output
  • Light production efficiency is higher in crystals with weak absorption and small absorption

3. What are the main methods of weak absorption measurement?

In order to improve the quality of optical materials or optical films, it is necessary to accurately measure the weak absorption. The measurement of absorption coefficient is generally studied by spectrophotometer in the traditional sense, but its measuring accuracy is only 0.1%, and to measure the ppm magnitude of the absorption coefficient of the main measurement technology are: photothermal deflection method, surface thermal lens method, photothermal radiation technology, laser calorimetry technology and photoacoustic spectroscopy and so on.

For more information about the measurement method, please see this article — Optical coating index – absorption attenuation.

Frank

Frank graduated from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, majoring in optics. As a technical engineer at Crylink Company, he deeply understands crystal materials and laser components.

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