Last year at this syposium we reported on the initial results of photothermal deflection microscopy (PDM) studies of single layer dielectric thin films [1]. The high spatial resolution, low-level absorption capabilities of PDM were demonstrated in the form of two-dimensional absorption contour maps of such films.

In this paper we report on PDM measurements of a number of HR and AR coatings provided by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and the Naval Weapons Center. The absorption data obtained from these measurements provide the first phase of absorption/damage correlation studies and as these absorption measurements were recently completed, no correlation data are yet available.

Resolution improvements, measurement methodology and a number of absorption contour maps are presented. Two interesting observations yet to be explained are described and some future experiments are suggested.