Improving the laser damage resistance of oxide thin films and multilayers via tailoring ion beam sputtering parameters

Highlights: • Increasing the oxygen amount during deposition supports to laser performance. • Ta₂O₅ films prepared without 12-cm ion source results in lower damage resistance. • We report 15.9 J/cm² LIDT value of multilayer application. • This paper presents a novel approach to prepare oxide films without post treatment by tailoring only ion beam deposition parameters that directly influence their laser damage resistance performance. - Abstract: Ion beam sputtering is one of the widely used methods for manufacturing laser optical components due to its advantages such as uniformity, reproducibility, suitability for multilayer coatings and growth of dielectric materials with high packing densities. In this study, single Ta₂O₅ layers and Ta₂O₅/SiO₂ heterostructures were deposited on optical quality glass substrates by dual ion beam sputtering. We focused on the effect of deposition conditions like substrate cleaning, assistance by 12 cm diameter ion beam source and oxygen partial pressure on the laser-induced damage threshold of Ta₂O₅ single layers. Afterwards, the obtained information is employed to a sample design and produces a Ta₂O₅/SiO₂ multilayer structure demonstrating low laser-induced damage without a post treatment procedure