The low laser induced damage threshold of the KH2PO4 crystal seriously restricts the output power of inertial confinement fusion.The micro-waviness on the KH2PO4 surface processed by single point diamond turning has a significant influence on the damage threshold.In this paper,the influence of micro-waviness on the damage threshold of the KH2PO4 crystal and the chief sources introducing the micro-waviness are analysed based on the combination of the Fourier modal theory and the power spectrum density method.Research results indicate that among the sub-wavinesses with different characteristic spatial frequencies there exists the most dangerous frequency which greatly reduces the damage threshold,although it may not occupy the largest proportion in the original surface.The experimental damage threshold is basically consistent with the theoretical calculation.For the processing parameters used,the leading frequency of micro-waviness which causes the damage threshold to decrease is between 350-1 μm-1 and 30-1 μm-1,especially between 90-1 μm-1 and 200-1 μm-1.Based on the classification study of the time frequencies of microwaviness,we find that the axial vibration of the spindle is the chief source introducing the micro-waviness,nearly all the leading frequencies are related to the practical spindle frequency（about 6.68 Hz,400 r/min） and a special middle frequency（between 1.029 Hz and 1.143 Hz）.
KH2PO4 crystal is a crucial optical component of inertial confinement fusion. Modulation of an incident laser by surface micro-defects will induce the growth of surface damage, which largely restricts the enhancement of the laser induced damage threshold. The modulation of an incident laser by using different kinds of surface defects are simulated by employing the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The results indicate that after the modulation of surface defects, the light intensity distribution inside the crystal is badly distorted, with the light intensity enhanced symmetrically. The relations between modulation properties and defect geometries （e.g., width, morphology, and depth of defects） are quite different for different defects. The modulation action is most obvious when the width of surface defects reaches 1.064 p-m. For defects with smooth morphology, such as spherical pits, the degree of modulation is the smallest and the light intensity distribution seems relatively uniform. The degree of modulation increases rapidly with the increase of the depth of surface defects and becomes stable when the depth reaches a critical value. The critical depth is 1.064 μm for cuboid pits and radial cracks, while for ellipsoidal pits the value depends on both the width and the length of the defects.
The KH2PO4 crystal is a key component in optical systems of inertial confinement fusion （ICF）. The microwaviness on a KH2PO4 crystal surface is strongly related to its damage threshold which is a key parameter for application. To study the laser induced damage mechanism caused by microwaviness, in this paper the near-field modulation properties of microwaviness to the incident wave are discussed by the Fourier modal method. Research results indicate that the microwaviness on the machined surface will distort the incident wave and thus lead to non-uniform distribution of the light intensity inside the crystal; in a common range of microwaviness amplitude, the light intensity modulation degree increases about 0.03 whenever the microwaviness amplitude increases 10 nm; 1 order diffraction efficiencies are the key factors responsible for light intensity modulation inside the crystal; the light intensity modulation is just around the microwaviness in the form of an evanescent wave, not inside the crystal when the microwaviness period is below 0.712μm; light intensity modulation degree has two extreme points in microwaviness periods of 1.064μm and 1.6μm, remains unchanged between periods of 3μm and 150μm, and descends above the period of 150μm to 920μm.
