Laser Damage Threshold Calculator

This Calculator is provided for reference / guidance purposes only.

The LDT calculator should not be substituted for direct LIDT testing of optics utilized in a given application where laser damage is a crucial parameter. Due to environmental variables such as molecular contamination, physical contamination, mounting stress, temperature, etc. most optics don't ever achieve their perfect calculated LDT. The LDT calculator scales by laser wavelength and pulse duration based on the nominal specification, it should be noted that while the equations scale fairly linearly in the nanosecond range, the damage mechanism changes from primarily thermal to electron field breakdown when switching to the picosecond scale for pulse duration. Finally, most optics will have specific regions with low laser damage thresholds due to material absorption, these include OH lines and lower UV wavelength ranges.

LDT specifications can be found on each product webpage under the Optical Damage Rating header of the Specifications tab. For further information on LDT, please refer to our Laser Damage Threshold technical note.