Reduce defects to increase laser damage threshold

The thinfilm industry has devoted considerable effort to improving laserdamage resistance of thinfilm coatings on optical elements in laser systems. Laser damage typically originates as micronsized sites that have little influence on the performance of the laser system. After repeated laser exposure, however, these defect sites can become larger, resulting in catastrophic damage. Additionally, a high density of damage sites can increase the scatter of an optical element, thus reducing its overal