Optics in high-power solid-state laser devices will be damaged and adhere to contaminates on the surface during manufacturing and operation, which reduces the service life. To facilitate the positioning and recognition of the flaw (damage and contaminates) in the process of automatic repair, the dark-field flaw size calibration algorithm was studied. In this paper, a flaw size calibration model based on convolutional neural network was established. The size, exposure time, and loss function of damage and contaminate were optimized respectively. The training parameter of the damage regression model is determined to be size of less than 500μm, 30ms of exposure time and SmoothL1 loss function, and the parameter of contaminate is 0-100μm, 20ms of exposure and SmoothL1 loss function. After data balancing, the calibration precision was improved. To improve the calibration consistency of the full-size segment, a comprehensive size calibration strategy is proposed. The CNN regression algorithm is used for small size, and the pixel-level calibration algorithm is used for large size. Compared with the single regression calibration algorithm, the relative error and absolute error of the calibration results of small damage (<340μm) are reduced by 41.4% and 44.13% respectively. The relative error and absolute error of small contaminate (<85μm) are reduced by 40.26% and 30.63%.
Surface defects on optics seriously affect their service life in high-power laser system. To address this issue, repair technologies for large-aperture optics are extensively employed. However, the operation of high-power laser system generates a large number of optics requiring repair. Currently, microscopic inspection is widely used for target points classification due to its high accuracy, but it has limitations such as small field of view and low efficiency. Utilizing the OTSU algorithm and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), a dark-field classification model for optical surface target points has been developed. Upon conducting experiments with several network models, the ResNet model, a probability threshold of 0.998 were determined. In conclusion, the classification accuracy for defects was 99.18% and for contaminants was 90.34%. The outcomes show that target points on the surfaces of optics can be accurately classified using this method.
Micron-level surface damages can seriously affect the optical and mechanical properties of large-aperture optics, so it is of great significance to perform high-precision inspection and mitigation of surface damages. Surface micro-damages are not only multi-category but also randomly distributed on the optics. Manual inspection and mitigation are not only time-consuming but also difficult to ensure the accuracy and reliability of mitigation, so it cannot meet the engineering requirements for large-volume mitigation of optics. In order to solve this problem, an intelligent inspection system framework for optics surface damage mitigation is proposed in this paper. The inspection system consists of an optics surface ranging fitting module, a dark-field rapid inspection module, and a multi-illumination micro-inspection module. Based on the above modules, a damage inspection process flow is established, including automatic alignment of optics surface, rapid dark-field inspection of flaws with large field of view, microscopic precision inspection of damages with small field of view, automatic configuration and execution of damage mitigation strategies, and quality control of mitigation structure. In order to realize the above flow, a predictive model library related to damage inspection is constructed, including: a dark field classification and size calibration model, a microscopy multi-classification model, and a mitigation quality inspection model. The automation and intelligence of the process flow is achieved by replacing the manual decision-making process with predictions from the model library. Based on the proposed framework, the working principle and workflow of the damage intelligent inspection system are explained, and the inspection efficiency and automation level of the system are evaluated in this paper. The intelligent inspection system framework proposed in this paper can provide technical support for future high-volume mitigation of large-aperture optics.
CO2 laser polishing process can significantly improve the surface quality and the Laser-Induced Damage Threshold (LIDT) of fused silica optics. However, due to the thermal history of the laser polishing process, the increment of the fictive temperature inside the modification layer would cause densification and residual stress, which critically affect the surface accuracy and the service life of fused silica optics. In this work, a 3D multi-physical coupling model including temperature, fluid flow and fictive temperature was established. Based on the fictive temperature distribution of the fused silica polished by CO2 lasers, the mechanism of laser annealing on the modified layer was revealed. The annealing results of fused silica were defined as three states including incomplete annealing, perfect annealing and over annealing. Based on the simulation results, the fictive temperature inside the modified layer was completely reduced with no increment of modified layer depth under the perfect annealing state. Additionally, the residual stress and the fictive temperature after the laser annealing were characterized by the Raman spectrum. The fictive temperature was reduced by 16.8 % and the residual stress was effectively reduced. This work can provide theoretical and experimental guidance for the control of surface modification and residual stress of fused silica optics polished by CO2 lasers.
SiCp/Al composites are suitable for manufacturing optical devices in various harsh environments such as mirrors, lenses, etc., and have broad application prospects in optics. The effective surface removal of the SiCp/Al composite is difficult due to irregular SiC-reinforced particles inside, resulting in the surface quality not being ideal. Therefore, it is necessary to study the removal mechanism of SiCp/Al composite materials. In this study, a statistical analysis based method was introduced to establish a particle random distribution model for SiCp/Al composite materials with a volume fraction of 30%. The removal mechanism of the composite material was revealed through a combination of simulation and experiments. In this study, the Sa20nm mirror was obtained by setting reasonable parameters. This study can provide a reference value for the removal mechanism and processing research of SiCp/Al composites.
The potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystals suffer from nanosecond pulse laser irradiation and are susceptible to damage during the operation of ICF system. In particular, the microcracks on the surface of KDP crystals caused by the single-point diamond fly-cutting (SPDF) process are more likely to cause serious damage under the subsequent laser irradiation. However, the mechanism of laser damage is still unclear. A model that can well represents the laser damage response is very important to reveal the mechanism of laser-induced damage. In this work, the electromagnetic field, stress field and temperature field are coupled, the mechanical characteristics of KDP material are considered, and the reasonable strength equation is applied to model the laser damage response of KDP crystal. Then, the conical crack is taken as an example to explore the laser damage response process of KDP crystal caused by surface defects under laser irradiation. It is found that the surface conical cracks have a great influence on the response process and the morphological characteristics of the laser damage. The existence of surface conical crack defects would lead to the extension of the longitudinal cracks beneath the damage crater, which has great disadvantages for the repairing of the laser damage sites. This work is of great guidance for avoiding the defects-induced damage and improving the service life of the crystal applied in ICF systems.
During the grinding and polishing processes of hard-brittle fused silica optics, the defects would be inevitably formed on the finished surface. Fused silica has a high absorption coefficient for far-infrared lasers, which makes the CO2 laser processing to be the potential repairing technology for machining-induced defects on fused silica surfaces. In this work, using a low-power CO2 laser, a new repairing method to heal the machining-induced micro-defects on the surface of fused silica is proposed. Then, based on the nonlinear thermodynamic parameters of fused silica material, a thermal transfer model under CO2 laser irradiation and a dynamic defect healing model were established. On basis of that, the influence of CO2 laser parameters on the maximum surface temperature and the temperature distribution inside the silica material was investigated. It is found that, under the low-power and near-continuous CO2 laser irradiation, the maximum melting depth can be obtained under the non-evaporative condition. The defect healing process under various laser powers was explored as well. It is found that the defects would be more difficult to be healed under a laser with higher-power, smaller beam size or shorter pulse width. This work can provide theoretical guidance for the determination of the optimal parameters in the laser healing process and the optical manufacturing strategies of fused silica optics.
The issues of laser-induced damage of transparent dielectric optics severely limit the development of large laser systems. In order to explore the mechanism of nanosecond laser damage on KDP surface, a multi-physics coupling dynamics model and a time resolved detection system were developed to obtain the transient dynamic behaviors of laser damage. The behaviors of laser energy transmission, thermal field distribution and damage morphology during nanosecond laser irradiation on KDP surface were simulated. It is found that the enhancement of light intensity caused by surface defect plays an important role in the initial energy deposition and damage initiation of the laser irradiation area. The evolution of the temperature field and fluid flow during subsequent laser irradiation contributes to the laser damage process. The simulated evolution of heat absorption source is verified by the transient images of local defect-induced laser damage captured by the ultra-fast experimental detection system. This work provides further insights in explaining the laserinduced damage by surface defects on KDP crystals.
KEYWORDS: Modulation, Crystals, Diffraction, Laser induced damage, Optical components, Laser crystals, Micro cutting, Micromachining, Near field diffraction, High power lasers
Micro-machining has been proved the most effective method to mitigate the laser-induced surface damage growth on potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystal in high power laser systems. However, the phase contrast of outgoing laser beam, introduced by the mitigated KDP surface, would cause light propagating turbulence and downstream intensification with the potential to damage downstream optics. In this work, a Gaussian mitigation pit with width of 800μm and depth of 10μm is fabricated on KDP rear surface by micro-milling. The effect of the mitigation pit on downstream light intensification is analyzed through propagation calculations based on Fresnel diffraction integral theory. The light intensity modulations reach a peak value at the position of 10mm downstream from the rear surface, decrease sharply subsequently and get stable eventually. The results indicate that the modulations induced by Gaussian mitigation pits would change with various downstream locations. It is essential to notice the unacceptable downstream intensification and reduce the risk of laser damage on other optics by choosing an appropriate installation location.
Micro-machining has been regarded as the most promising method to mitigate the laser damage growth on KDP/DKDP crystal surfaces. In this work, the near-field and far-field light modulations caused by three kinds of typical mitigation contours (spherical, Gaussian and conical) were theoretically investigated and compared to determine the optimal contours for achieving the minimum light intensification. Then, based on Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), a specific machining flow combining layer milling (rough repairing) and spiral milling (fine repairing) was developed to repair the surface damage with high efficiency and surface quality. Finally, the morphology, transmittance and laser damage resistance of the repaired KDP surfaces were tested. The theoretical and experimental results indicate that the conical mitigation contours mostly possess the best repaired surface quality and optical performance. The developed combined rough and fine machining flow could be applied as a practical repairing flow to mitigate the laser-induced surface damage growth of KDP crystal optics.
In this paper, in order to grind optical aspheric surfaces with high quality and high precision, some factors that influence the roughness and profile accuracy of machined surfaces were theoretically analyzed. At the same time, all kinds of parameters of ultra-precision grinding optical aspheric surface in ductile mode were optimized. Afterwards author developed the ultra-precision aspheric grinding system. Its principal axis of the workpiece, traverse guide, longitudinal guide and principal axis of the grinder were aero-static bearing form. Turning accuracy of principal axis of the workpiece was 0.05 micrometers . The highest rotate speed of the grinder was 80000 rev/min. Its turning accuracy was 0.1 micrometers . The resolution of linear displacement of the traverse and longitudinal guide was 4.9 nm. Micro-adjusting accuracy of the center high micro-adjusting machine of the grinder was 0.1 micrometers . Finally, we performed grinding aspheric surface experiments on this grinding system. The results show that to obtain high accuracy and high quality aspheric surface, the mean size of grains of diamond wheels should be smaller than 10 micrometers , and also the high speed of the wheel and small feed rate are needed. After optimizing these grinding parameters, the final machined aspheric profile accuracy can reach 0.4 micrometers and surface roughness can be less than 0.01 micrometers .
In the process of precision cutting machining, in order to obtain smooth surface, the tool wear is an important factor besides the optimizing the cutting parameters. When the tool was worn to a certain degree, the machined surface quality would be very difference after cutting with the tool wear. So in the process of precision cutting, the measuring of the tool wear is a very important problem. In the paper, A simple and reliable monitoring method based on laser-CCD trigonometric measurement is proposed for tool wear sensing on-line in the automation of precision cutting processes. With laser-CCD trigonometric measurement, the tool wear is measured. When the tool wear is to a certain degree, the measurement system give the alarm and the tool must be replaced, and then go on to cut work-pieces with new tool. Much experimental studies of the precision cutting are carried out with the measuring system and the experimental result is given. The results show that the measurement accuracy of the measurement system is +/- 0.1 micrometers , it can be used very well in the on-line measurement and workplace's surface quality is guaranteed.
When the AFM cantilever is mounted with a sharp diamond tip, in addition to controlling both the applied normal load on the tip and other machining parameters by the AFM electrical components, it is capable of conducting micro/nano-machining on the surface of single crystal silicon. Firstly in this research work the diamond tip based single asperity cutting experiments are conducted on silicon surface with different normal loads and cutting speed, in aiming to investigate the AFM based microcutting process and material removal mechanism for silicon-like brittle material on nanoscale. Secondly, the micro/nano-machining experiments are conducted on single crystal silicon surface with different detecting approaches for characterizing the features of the micro/nano-machined region in terms of material removal mechanism and chips forming characteristic under different normal loads. Furthermore, the contact interaction mechanism existed between the AFM diamond tip and the machined silicon surface during the micro/nano-machining process is simulated with finite element method. Finally, the wear mechanism of an atomic force microscope (AFM) diamond tip when conducting micro/nano-machining on a single crystal silicon surface is empirically analyzed. The results indicate that the AFM based v has a precisely dimensional controllability and a good surface quality on nanometer scale.
In this paper, based on the indentation under different loads, the influence factors for brittle-ductile transition of optical glasses has been investigated theoretically through the simulation of a single grain grinding with the diamond indenter. By the surface and fracture features, the grinding rules and the critical load conditions for the brittle-ductile transition of different optical glasses, the critical grinding depth of the single grain and its influence factors are obtained for the brittle-ductile transition in ultra-precision grinding process. The experimental results show that brittle- ductile transition of optical glasses is controlled by cutting depth of a single grain. When the cutting depth is less than the critical depth, optical glasses are ground in ductile mode. When mean grain size is less than 20 μm, ductile mode grinding of optical glasses can be realized with the relatively larger tangential speed and smaller feed. Otherwise, lubricants is the important factor influence critical cutting depth. Finally, the experimental results of BK7 and FCD1 optical glasses grinding are given.
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