Design and characterization of the damage induced by irradiation in optical coatings for space applications

A systematic characterization of dielectric coatings for space application is carried out to evaluate the performance drop upon protons exposure. Different energy levels and fluence values are tested. Also, since the irradiation experiments are performed in large scale facilities, different flux rates are tested to establish the operational parameters that better mimic the real irradiation conditions. The induced damage associated with each irradiation session is characterized for a selection of single and bi-layer coatings. Results show that the performance drop is highly dependent on the fluence and the implantation energy.