Differences in bulk damage probability distributions between tripler and z-cuts of KDP and DKDP at 355 nm

Over the course of testing a substantial number of KDP and DKDP crystals from rapid and conventional growth processes, we have discovered that there is a consistent difference in the value of the damage resistance between z-cut and tripler, x-cut and y-cut crystals for a given test fluence. This increase in damage probability for tripler, x and y-cut crystals is consistent for both conventional and rapid growth KDP as weal as DKDP. It also holds for unconditioned (S/1) and conditioned (R/1) tests and has values of 2.1 +/-0.6 and 1.5 +/-0.3 respectively. Testing has also revealed that there is no sensitivity to incident laser polarization. This is in direct contradiction to models based on simple, non-spherical absorbers. This result plus new information on the size and evolution of bulk damage density (see Runkel et al., this proceedings) has led to a reinterpretation of the growth parameter data for rapid growth NIF boules. it now appears that variations in impurity concentration throughout the boule do not affect the damage probability curve as dramatically as previously thought; although, this is still a topic of intensive investigation.