Laser-induced damage in ZnSe

Abstract
Pulsed laser damage in CVD‐grown ZnSe has been studied at 1.06 and 10.6 μ. At 1.06 μ the intrinsic damage intensity was measured to be 1.2 GW/cm2. Damage at 10.6 μ was observed to be the result of inclusion absorption with the damage intensity dependent on focused beam diameter. A statistical model of inclusion damage is developed to account for this dependence. By comparing the predictions of the model to damage intensities measured under two conditions of external focusing, the average density of potentially damaging inclusions is calculated to be about 107 cm−3.