Laser-induced damage to nonlinear crystal-line materials

The parameters necessary to specify surface damage to nonlinear crystals are described and the power densities descriptive of the damage process are defined. The definition of the occurrences of surface damage is discussed and preliminary experimental results given for LiNbO3, Ba2NaNb5O15and several other materials irradiated by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. These results obtained using TEM00and "multimode" lasers are analyzed and used to provide the basis for planning future experiments.