Absorption on the surface of crystalline nanostructured, partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) was studied by fluorescent spectroscopy. Water-soluble dissociable phtalocyanine derivatives of the anion and cation types were used as fluorescent markers. The Photosens luminescent dye was used in the case of the anion molecule, and Holosens was used in the case of the cation molecule. The absorption coefficients were evaluated by the method of comparison of the residual fluorescence of the dye solution after absorption of the crystalline powders of oxides under study (sapphire and PSZ) on the surface. It is shown that the adsorption ability of alumina (sapphire) is higher than that of zirconia (PSZ) by a factor of 6–8 for both the anionic and cationic molecules.

This paper reports on the results of detailed theoretical investigations into the diffusion of intrinsic defects in impurity crystals doped with mixed-valence ions. The special case of diffusion stimulated by variations in the redox properties of the atmosphere at the crystal boundary during high-temperature annealing is analyzed. The major consideration is given to the following fundamental problems: (i) the dynamics of valence transitions and the structure of the chemical reaction zone, (ii) the possibility of determining the type of chemical reaction at the crystal-atmosphere interface and the type of diffusing defects, (iii) the effect of dilatation mechanical stresses arising in the reaction zone on the reaction-zone structure and on the dynamics of diffusion processes, and (iv) the determination of the diffusion parameters of intrinsic defects and the constants of their interaction with impurity centers.

A laser with a high-concentration KNFS phosphate-glass active element (in the form of a plate of 9 × 15 × 0.42 cm dimensions) was constructed. An average output power of 180 W was achieved at pulse repetition frequencies 5 and 10 Hz. A model description of the absorption of pump radiation in an illumination enclosure, allowing for the actual emission spectra of the pump lamps and the absorption spectrum of the active element, was developed. This model was used in an analysis of the influence of the parameters of the illumination enclosure, of the plate thickness, and of the activator concentration in the glass on the maximum attainable output power.

The wave equation has been solved to predict theoretically and confirm experimentally the periodic behavior of light intensity in the first diffraction maximum, depending upon the thickness of the nonlinear medium. The growth of the medium’s nonlinearity was shown to give rise to an essential complication in the behavior of the spatial harmonics. Transition from a simple harmonic behavior of the system to dynamic chaos was demonstrated. Numerical solution of the wave equation permitted determination of applicability limits of approximate Raman–Nath solutions for the case of self-diffraction. Nonlinear diffraction of a beam as a whole was theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed to be an essential factor in the spatial and temporal dynamics of the diffracted radiation.

Laser damage was simulated numerically for two different defect distribution functions in terms of the breakdown initiation thresholds in order to study the statistical dependences. Various methods of obtaining dependences of the breakdown probability and its density on the laser radiation intensity are discussed. A numerical experiment is used to show that the method of the inverse problem of the laser breakdown statistics can be used for the diagnostics of microinclusions initiating damage in transparent optical materials.

The solutions of wave equations are used to develop new ideas on the dynamics of the diffraction efficiency of a volume light-induced grating in a medium with a nonlinear refractive index and/or absorption coefficient. It is shown that the earlier solutions have failed to describe satisfactorily the diffraction of radiation by volume phase and amplitude gratings because of distortion of the amplitude–phase profile of the radiation forming the grating. An analysis is made of the influence of the radial distribution of the intensity of the grating-forming beams on the observed changes in the diffraction efficiency. Predictions are made and experimental evidence is provided of the role of nonlinear refraction of a beam as a whole, which is an important factor in the space-time dynamics of the diffracted radiation in the far-field zone.

Results of experimental studies of the interaction of high power CO2 (λ = 10.6 μm), CaF Er3+ (λ = 2.76 μm) and YAG Er3+ (λ = 2.96 μm) lasers with undoped Ge and Si are presented. The experiments included photoconductivity, microwave absorption and laser beam transmission measurements at various intensities up to the level of laser damage. For both the Ge and Si samples, nonequilibrium carrier generation has been observed with both CO2 and Er-laser excitation. It is shown that the carrier generation in Ge is due to two-photon ionization at the Er-laser wavelength, whereas none of the considered mechanisms (impact, multiphoton and thermal ionizations), explain the anomalous dependence of carrier density upon CO2-laser excitation intensity. Nonequilibrium carrier generation results in nonlinear absorption and self-defocusing, which in turn lead to the intensity saturation of high power laser beams. Analysis of these effects for prefocused beams is presented. It is shown, in particular, that the absence of bulk damage in Ge under CO2 and Er-laser radiation is attributed to these effects even at very high incident intensities. It is pointed out that these effects play an important role in the application of Ge as a material for use in high power IR lasers.

A method for the numerical solution of problems of the propagation of axially-symmetric beams in media with a positive cubic non-linearity in the framework of a parabolic equation is discussed. For such problems it is established by a numerical experiment that only the use of a moving Lagrangian mesh leads to the stability of explicit methods of numerical solution. The influence of the boundary conditions on the solution of such problems is examined. The scheme proposed can be used for multidimensional problems.