A comparative study of laser-induced surface damage thresholds in BBO crystals and effect of impurities

The paper reports the laser induced single shot and multiple shot surface damage thresholds along with absorption characteristics studies of different types of BBO crystals using 1064 and 532 nm wavelengths of Nd:YAG laser. In addition different types of inclusions/impurities present in these crystals have also been investigated using scanning electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (SEM-EDXA). The obtained damage data are correlated with the inclusions/impurities to study their effect on crystal quality.