Optical breakdown in NaCl and KCl from 0.53 to 10.6 μm

Directly comparable values of optical-breakdown fields in NaCl and KCl were obtained at several wavelengths by properly scaling the data according to measured dependencies on the laser-beam focal spot radius. The breakdown field for each material showed no significant variation with laser wavelength over the range 0.53–10.6 μm. However, the ratio of the fields for even the most breakdown-resistant NaCl and KCl samples changed with the spot radius in a manner suggesting that an extrinsic property dominates optical breakdown in these materials.