Rear-surface light intensification caused by Hertzian-conical crack in 355-nm silica optics

Theoretical studies show that the Hertzian-conical crack can be considered to be composed of double cone faces for simplification. In the present study, the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method is employed to quantify the electric-field distribution within the subsurface in the presence of such a defect under the normal incidence irradiation. Both impurities (inside the crack) and the chemical etching have been investigated. The results show that the maximum electric field amplitude |E| _max is 9.57374 V/m when the relative dielectric constant of transparent impurity equals 8.5. And the near-field modulation will be improved if the crack filled with remainder polishing powders or water vapor/drops. Meanwhile, the laser-induced initial damage is moving to the glass-air surface. In the etched section, the magnitude of intensification is strongly dependent on the inclination angle θ. There will be a highest modulation when θ is around π /6, and the maximum value of |E| _max is 18.57314 V/m. When θ ranges from π /8 to π /4, the light intensity enhancement factor can easily be larger than 100, and the modulation follows a decreasing trend. On the other hand, the modulation curves become smooth when θ > π /4 or θ < π /8.