Laser Damage Certification

Laser damage certification tests are designed to provide manufacturers or end users of optical components assurance that parts will remain damage free at the fluence or irradiance levels at which they will be used. This test is used to eliminate parts or specific "lots" of parts with unobservable manufacturing defects from being used in a production environment. These defects often result in reduced damage threshold and subsequent failure when integrated into a laser system.

In many cases, these laser damage certification tests are geared towards a customer's specific application or designed with a particular component or system in mind. Spica often works with component suppliers or laser manufacturers to help design a test which is best suited for a particular component.

Certain parameters must always be defined for certification tests. These include the wavelength of use, laser pulse width, and repetition rate. Typically 5-10 sites are irradiated with as large a beam as possible to assure irradiation of a statistically significant area of the optic (Preferably >1.00 mm 1/e2 diameter). A laser worksheet can be found on this website which prompts the major parameters required for this type of testing.

If you are interested in our laser damage certification testing, please fill out our laser damage certification test form.