Three-dimensional characterization of modifications in sapphire exposed to laser-induced damage using multimodal spectral microimaging.

Sapphire (Al(2)O(3)) is a commonly used dielectric material with many applications in lasers and optical systems. Owing to its high resistivity to laser induced damage, it is particularly suitable for use in high power laser systems. This work focuses on developing techniques to characterize material modifications in sapphire. These techniques were applied following localized laser induced ablation, commonly referred to as laser-damage, resulting from exposure to single 100-ps and 6-ns pulses. Measurements of fluorescence-based piezospectroscopy and confocal Raman microscopy were performed with spatial resolution on the order of 1 μm. Raman microscopy reveals that the relaxation of material exposed to the rapid laser heating, elastic and viscoplastic deformation, melting, and solidification leads to the formation of a polycrystalline material phase. In addition, narrowband fluorescence lines, referred to as R(1) and R(2), exhibit pressure-sensitive changes to their spectral profiles, allowing 3D internal stresses to be recorded with spatial resolution of the order of a few micrometers.