Laser Induced Damage of a Thin Film With an Absorbing Inclusion: Thermal Considerations of Substrates and Absorption Profiles

A study of pulsed laser induced damage to thin films is conducted within the context of the impurity-dominated damage model in which the thin film component of the model is emphasized. In this case, a cylindrical impurity is embedded in a single thin film layer between a free surface and a substrate. The effect of the substrate is studied by varying its thermal properties with respect to those of the thin film. The nonuniform distribution of radiation in the film is incorporated into the model by assuming that the absorption is proportional to the standing wave intensity pattern of the field. These results are compared to the results found in previous studies of impurities embedded in infinite mediums.