Investigation of intrinsic optical damage in potassium bromide at 532 nm

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Abstract
We report here the details of an investigation of intrinsic single-pulse optical damage in KBr at 532 nm [Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 1605 (1987)]. The technique employed is based on the self-trapped-exciton recombination luminescence, and the temperature dependence of the luminous efficiency is utilized to measure the lattice-temperature rise resulting from the interaction of KBr with intense laser pulses at 532 nm. The mechanism of the laser-solid interaction is shown to be four-photon free-carrier generation and subsequent free-carrier heating with small contributions from laser-generated defect formation, absorption, and relaxation as well as direct recombination of the charge carriers. Single-pulse damage occurs at a temperature very close to the melting point of the material with no indication of electron-avalanche impact ionization.