Michael Thomas

President, Spica Technologies

Michael Thomas is president of Spica Technologies (Hollis, NH), and also chairs a committee under the Optics and Electro-Optics Standards Council (OEOSC) tasked to generate a new U.S. laser-damage standard for the measurement of laser damage on optical components.

FIGURE 1. Examples of laser-induced damage at a clustered defect site (a) and at an isolated defect site (b) are shown.

Optics

Laser-damage Testing: New laser-damage evaluation techniques boost testing capabilities

Michael Thomas

May 10, 2017

A defect-driven damage model, along with a raster-scan testing approach, expand the scope of laser-induced damage testing (LIDT).

FIGURE 1. High magnification reveals images of high-energy laser-induced damage on coated surfaces.

Optics

Optical Systems: Transmissive high-energy laser optics: Manufacturing and testing considerations

Michael Thomas

Sept. 8, 2014

There are many decisions to make when designing, specifying, manufacturing, and testing optical components for high-energy laser systems-each is a potential failure mechanism ...