The effect of baking and pulsed laser irradiation on the bulk laser damage threshold of potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals

We increased the bulk laser damage threshold of potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals by as much as a factor of 5 by first baking the crystals at 140 °C for 24 h and then irradiating them with laser pulses of increasing fluence. The combination of baking and subthreshold laser irradiation was more effective in improving bulk damage thresholds than either process alone. The combined process was effective for all laser pulse durations from 1 to 20 ns.