SEDL / STP / STP954-EB / STP23103S

Picosecond Damage in Y²O³ Stabilized Cubic Zirconia

Mansour, N
North Texas State University, Denton, Texas

Soileau, MJ
North Texas State University, Denton, Texas

Van Stryland, EW
North Texas State University, Denton, Texas

Pages: 8    Published: Jan 1986

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Abstract

The hardness, strength, and transparency of cubic zirconia ZrO² makes it a good candidate as a laser window material; however, to obtain these qualities a relatively large percentage of Y²O³ is added to stabilize the crystals and increase their mechanical strength. As impurities are often regarded as the initiators of laser-induced damage we have performed a study of the damage thresholds of optical quality ZrO² stabilized with Y²O³. These thresholds have been measured with picosecond 1.06 μm laser pulses in crystals having Y²O³ concentrations of 9.4%, 12%, 15%, 18%, and 21%. We found that the addition of Y²O³ for increasing the mechanical strength of zirconia does not necessarily lead to a decrease in the damaging irradiance. In addition, the thresholds for ZrO² are comparable to those of NaCl.