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Congratulations to the colleague and best wishes for continued success!

 

This thesis investigates how special optical coatings - thin ‘sculptured’ films - are created on crystalline surfaces. Their purpose is to improve the performance of lasers. For example, such layers absorb less intense light and are more resistant to powerful laser beams, lasting longer and not being damaged by humidity or other environmental factors.

 

In addition, these coatings may be suitable for use in the development of smaller, more efficient and more resistant laser devices used in industrial, medical, communication and other applications.

 

The glancing angle deposition (GLAD) method has been successfully tested during the work.

 

"I have been researching optical elements based on sculptured films and their stability in the environment. Different methods to avoid degradation in multilayer coatings composed only of silica were investigated. Also, the first applications of such coatings on laser crystals to form a Bragg mirror or a total internal reflection element have been carried out," says Lukas.

 

 

 

According to the young scientist, the work involved using a special laser heating method to make the so-called Bragg mirrors highly resistant to strong lasers, withstanding up to 180 J/cm². Special niche sculptured coatings were also applied to help the crystals reflect light better. These coatings are very suitable for lasers in which light travels in zigzag patterns. With them, light can be well reflected even at lower angles of incidence - from 46 degrees.

 

"Sculptured coatings based on a pure silica material are highly resistant to laser radiation. Once stabilised and isolated from ambient moisture, these coatings can be used in high power laser systems.

 

In addition, nanostructured layers can be used in the formation of a wide range of niche elements due to their unique property of effectively controlling the refractive index during deposition. One excellent example is the enhancement of the total internal reflection angle for YAG crystal substrates. It is also possible to form some of the widest dielectric layer-based Bragg mirrors by combining porous silica layers with dense high refractive index layers. Such elements are very useful for femtosecond pulse compression in multi-pass cell systems," says L. Ramalis.

 

By the way, a multi-pass cell is a device that allows light to pass through the same material many times to make it easier to detect even very small amounts of material.