Dr. John C. Bellum

For nearly 13 years, until February 2017, I led the large optics coating operation at Sandia National Laboratories in support of the high energy lasers of Sandia's Z-Backlighter Laser Facility. I had responsibility for design, analysis, deposition and metrology of optical coatings for the large, meter-class Z-Backlighter laser optics in keeping with their stringent requirements of resistance to high power laser damage. I have extensive work experience in optical science and engineering and related areas of science and physics, and in the design and analysis of high laser damage threshold optical thin film coatings for various applications such as high reflection, anti-reflection, dichroic beam splitting, polarization discrimination and multi-layer dielectric gratings. My early scientific background is in theoretical molecular physics, and I am interested in laser damage mechanisms and associated electronic structure of optical media. Currently I am a consultant in optical coatings.