Abstract

We investigate the laser damage durability of CsLiB₆O₁₀(CLBO) surface for 266-nm beams. In high-power UV generation, an as-polished CLBO surface was damaged due to absorption of the polishing compound embedded inside the crystal surface. In the as-polished surface of CLBO, polishing compound ZrO₂ (absorption edge is about 300 nm) was detected to a depth of 60 nm. We have removed polishing compound with ion beam etching without degrading the surface quality. Etched CLBO surface exhibits an improvement of the lifetime more than 4 times longer than that of as- polished surface.

© 2000 Optical Society of America