Characteristics of laser pulse damage to water–soluble nonlinear crystals

An experimental investigation was made of the influence of various defects encountered in water-soluble crystals on their optical strength. It was found that the presence of pronounced growth layers, sector and block boundaries, or internal stresses could reduce the optical strength by a factor of 2–2.5. The presence of microinclusions of the solution and foreign impurities reduced the strength by more than one order of magnitude. The power density corresponding to the breakdown threshold was determined for homogeneous parts of the crystals.