Influence of oxygen partial pressure on laser-induced damage resistance of ZrO2 films in vacuum

• We analyzed the effect of oxygen partial pressure on laser-induced damage in vacuum.
• Laser-induced damage had a complicated dependence on oxygen partial pressure.
• Higher damage threshold was the combination effect of many factors.
• Reasonable process parameters were conducive to obtain high damage threshold.

The dependence of laser-induced damage resistance of ZrO2 films in vacuum on oxygen partial pressure has been studied. Results revealed that laser-induced damage resistance of ZrO2 films in vacuum had a complicated dependent relationship with the oxygen partial pressure. And higher laser-induced damage threshold under the oxygen partial pressure of 1.0 × 10−2 Pa was a result of the combination effect of many factors, such as optical characteristics, structural property and stress property. Study indicated that reasonable process parameter being capable of balancing effectively the adverse and favorable factors was very necessary for preparing optical films with high laser-induced damage threshold in vacuum.