Large area optical coatings and laser damage measurements for ICF applications

Currently planned concepts for laser-based fusion systems critically rely on high-quality optical coatings for the creation and transport of the required short and ultra-short pulses. Both the deposition on the required large surfaces and characterization of these coatings currently pose challenges that need to be addressed to enable the efficient production of optics for future laser-based inertial confinement fusion (ICF) power plants. These challenges are currently investigated at LZH in several research projects: A novel concept for high-quality ion-beam sputtering coatings will enable the homogeneous coating of optics with diameters of up to two meters. Furthermore, as part of the grants “PriFUSIO” and “SHARP” in the German fusion energy program “Fusion2040,” the LZH develops innovative approaches for high-damage coatings as well as their characterization in large-area format on optics with diameters of up to 400mm. The contribution will present the current state of both projects, including current results on coating homogeneity, design approaches, and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) measurements in the PriFUSIO project.