Laser-induced damage studies in silicon and silicon-based photodetectors

Laser-induced damage studies have been carried out on single-crystal silicon and silicon-based photodetectors, FND 100 P-I-N photodiodes, and C30954E avalanche photodiodes as a function of repetition frequency for a 1064-nm wavelength. It has been observed that the damage threshold decreases significantly when the samples are irradiated with a large number of pulses. However, this effect is evident only when the repetition frequency is greater than 1 Hz. The results are discussed in light of various existing theories. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America.