LIDT and contamination challenges for high power lasers

ELI Beamlines facility operates at high intensities and high repetition rates to serve the experimental user community. One of the key limiting factors for reliable operation is generally LIDT (laser induced damage threshold), which is closely related to LIC (laser induced contamination). Some practical aspects of LIC, namely detection methods or cleaning principles employed in ELI will be presented. LIDT developments of gratings and mirrors for the ATON 10PW class laser will be discussed together with the large coating facility ELIAS.