title: Revision of laser-induced damage threshold evaluation from damage probability data.
abstract: In this study, the applicability of commonly used Damage Frequency Method (DFM) is addressed in the context of Laser-Induced Damage Threshold (LIDT) testing with pulsed lasers. A simplified computer model representing the statistical interaction between laser irradiation and randomly distributed damage precursors is applied for Monte Carlo experiments. The reproducibility of LIDT predicted from DFM is examined under both idealized and realistic laser irradiation conditions by performing numerical 1-on-1 tests. A widely accepted linear fitting resulted in systematic errors when estimating LIDT and its error bars. For the same purpose, a Bayesian approach was proposed. A novel concept of parametric regression based on varying kernel and maximum likelihood fitting technique is introduced and studied. Such approach exhibited clear advantages over conventional linear fitting and led to more reproducible LIDT evaluation. Furthermore, LIDT error bars are obtained as a natural outcome of parametric fitting which exhibit realistic values. The proposed technique has been validated on two conventionally polished fused silica samples (355 nm, 5.7 ns).
authors: Laser Research Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors: Gintare
authors: G
authors: Bataviciute
authors: Povilas
authors: P
authors: Grigas
authors: Linas
authors: L
authors: Smalakys
authors: Andrius
authors: A
authors: Melninkaitis