Optical Strength Of Glasses Implanted With Argon Ions

A latent process of accumulation of primary defects gradually reduces the laser strength of optical materials under "subthreshold" multiple pulse laser irradiation. Model experiments which are aimed at estimating the effect of "broken bond" defects in glasses on their optical (laser) strength were carried out using a set of samples treated by 40keV Ar+ implantation. A correlation was established between the number of ruptures in the glass network and a single pulse damage threshold. Insignificance of ruptures of modifier involved chemical bonds on optical strength was concluded from comparison of data obtained for vitreous silica and multicomponent glass.