Anti-reflective and waterproof hard coating for high power laser optical elements

A hard coating method of single crystalline porous silica film is widely used for high power laser optical elements in the air. However, there is no protective hard coating method for the elements to survive high power laser irradiance while in the water. We, thus, developed a new method for a waterproof coating with photo-oxidation of silicone oil. The silicone oil was spin-coated onto the surface of optical elements, and then irradiated with a xenon excimer lamp in the air. In this treatment, a protective coating for plastic lenses, mirrors, and nonlinear optical crystals, which are highly deliquescent, was developed by taking advantage of the phenomenon in which organic silicone oil is transformed to inorganic amorphous glass by a process of photo-oxidation. This technique has enabled an optical thin coating film to transmit ultraviolet rays of wavelengths under 200 nm and possess the characteristics of homogeneity. high density; resistance to environment anti-reflectiveness, resistance to water, and Mohs' scale of 5, which is comparable to apatite. This allows us to cool a slab laser head and use as a mirror for underwater laser welding.