Wide-field probing of silica laser-induced damage precursors by photoluminescence photochemical quenching

We describe a wide-field approach to probe transient changes in photoluminescence (PL) of defects on silica surfaces. This technique allows simultaneous capture of spatially resolved PL with spontaneous quenching behavior. We attribute the quenching of PL intensity to photochemical reactions of surface defects and/or subsurface fractures with ambient molecules. Such quenching curves can be accurately reproduced by our theoretical model using two quenchable defect populations with different reaction rates. The fitting parameters of our model are spatially correlated to fractures in silica where point defects and mechanical stresses are known to be present, potentially indicating regions prone to laser-induced damage growth. We believe that our approach allows rapid spatial resolved identification of damage prone morphology, providing a new pathway to fast, non-destructive predictions of laser-induced damage growth.