Microstructure variation in fused silica irradiated by different fluence of UV laser pulses with positron annihilation lifetime and Raman scattering spectroscopy

Highlights: • Effects of sub-threshold laser fluence on material stability of silica are studied. • Vacancy cluster size increases significantly, while void size varies by only ∼2%. • Content of voids decreases ∼10.6%, while vacancy cluster increases by 4%. • The angle of Si−O−Si bridging bond decreases ∼3.6° after laser irradiation. - Abstract: We present an original study on the non-destructive evaluation of the microstructure evolution of fused silica induced by pulsed UV laser irradiation at low fluence (less than 50% F_th). Positron annihilation spectroscopy discloses that the spatial size of the vacancy cluster is increased exponentially with the linearly elevated laser fluence. Particularly, the vacancy cluster size in bulk silica is significantly increased by 14.5% after irradiated by pulsed 355 nm laser at F = 14 J/cm² (50% F_th), while the void size varies only ∼2%. UV laser-excited Raman results suggest that the bond length and average bond angle of Si−O−Si bridging bond are both slightly reduced. Results reveals that the rearrangement process of (Si−O)_n fold rings and breakage of the Si−O bridging bond in bulk silica occurred during pulsed UV laser irradiation. The micro-structural changes were taken together to clarify the effect of sub-threshold laser fluence on material stability of silica glass. The obtained data provide important information for studying material stability and controlling the lifetime of fused silica optics for high power laser system.