Near Ir Absorbing Low Expansion Glass-Ceramic Filters

High-peak-power and high-average-power laser systems often require filters which need to absorb very large amounts of energy. The thermal loading results in stresses which cause optical distortion or even failure of the optical element. Examples of such filter applications are edge cladding for large Nd-doped glass amplifier discs to prevent parasitic oscillations, attenuation filters for use in calorimeters and safety filters used as beam blocks or dumps for absorbing excess unused energy.