title: Picosecond laser damage performance assessment of multilayer dielectric gratings in vacuum.
abstract: Precise assessment of the high fluence performance of pulse compressor gratings is necessary to determine the safe operational limits of short-pulse high energy lasers. We have measured the picosecond laser damage behavior of multilayer dielectric (MLD) diffraction gratings used in the compression of chirped pulses on the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) kilojoule petawatt laser system at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). We present optical damage density measurements of MLD gratings using the raster scan method in order to estimate operational performance. We also report results of R-on-1 tests performed with varying pulse duration (1-30 ps) in air, and clean vacuum. Measurements were also performed in vacuum with controlled exposure to organic contamination to simulate the grating use environment. Results show sparse defects with lower damage resistance which were not detected by small-area damage test methods.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Alessi
authors.forename: C Wren
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Hackel
authors.forename: Raluca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Negres
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stanion
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Fair
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Cross
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nissen
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luthi
authors.forename: Gabe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guss
authors.forename: Jerald A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Britten
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Gourdin
authors.forename: Constantin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haefner