About the webinar:
An increasingly wide range of applications need to be able to function in harsh environments, not only on space missions but also here on Earth, in particle detectors, for example. It is important to understand radiation's key processes and their effects on fused silica in order to design optical instrumentation that can avoid harm to its systems, enabling it to complete its mission.
Eduard Klett of Heraeus Conamic provides an overview of fused silica as an optical material and how it is affected by different types and doses of radiation. He classifies types of radiation and discusses their causes. Radiation has many effects on fused silica, including induced absorption, densification, luminescence, laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) filamentation, as well as effects on mechanical properties. Klett discusses these effects and whether or how they can be countered. Finally, he reveals how to gain a better understanding of the basic principles of radiation’s effect on fused silica, with the aim of improving optical designs so that can they endure any mission.
