Investigation of processes of the bulk damage of semiconductors under the effect of pulsed infrared laser radiation

The paper presents an experimental study of the laser-induced bulk damage of infrared-transparent semiconductors: Ge, GaAs, Si, CdSe, and CdTe. It is established that microdefects play the determining role in the damage of even the purest specimens of these materials. The distribution function of the microdefects with respect to damage thresholds is determined on the basis of an analysis of the statistical characteristics of laser-induced damage. It is shown that intense radiation can be used to disclose and investigate defects in semiconductors. Particular attention is given to the generation of carriers in pure germanium under the effect of nanosecond pulses at 10.6 microns. It is shown that this effect leads to radiation defocusing, which limits the intensity in the focus and conditions the absence of bulk damage in germanium.