Defect-dominated 1.06-μm laser-induced damage of antireflectance coatings designed for use at 1.3 μm

The unique aspect of this work is that the defects found in an AR optical coating represent a degenerate ensemble that is uniformly distributed throughout the optical coating at high spatial densities. This ensures that various stages of damage may be observed for each irradiation and that the defect source can be identified.