With the rapid development of high-power laser technology, high-power lasers pose a serious threat to equipment safety. Laser protection materials are an important route for ensuring equipment survivability. This review analyzes the research progress, protective performance, and existing challenges of four major types of laser protection materials, namely reflective, thermal-insulation, ablative, and composite-type materials, and proposes feasible suggestions for future research and development.

High-power laser damage to matter is mainly associated with laser-induced physical and chemical reactions. Based on the optical characteristics and thermal effects of lasers, researchers in China and abroad have extensively studied laser protection materials, which can be divided into the following four categories.

(1) Reflective protection materials (e.g., aluminum and silver coatings) achieve reflectivity close to that of metals through structural and process optimization. Most incident laser light is reflected, and the deposited laser energy is therefore greatly reduced, so the protected substrate is not subjected to high-temperature laser damage. However, metallic materials have low melting points and poor heat resistance, and their highly reflective surfaces can be damaged by laser-induced high temperatures. Therefore, highly reflective metals are no longer an optimal choice for laser protection. Metal oxides and ceramics with high reflectivity and heat resistance, as well as materials exhibiting abrupt changes in reflectivity, have accordingly emerged, but the maximum reflectivity of these materials cannot reach the level of metals.

(2) Thermal-insulation protection materials focus on reducing deposited laser energy through heat insulation. Thermal barrier materials are the main material type studied in this category. Such materials are prone to highly localized heat accumulation, which can lead to thermal-stress damage. In recent years, few reports on thermal-insulation protection materials have been published.

(3) Ablative protection materials are mainly organic composites (epoxy resin, phenolic resin, polysiloxane, silicone resin, C/C, and C/SiC composites), and deposited laser heat can be dissipated through ablation reactions. In theory, long-term protection against high-power lasers can be achieved as long as sufficient protective material is available; however, practical constraints on structural weight and size limit the amount of protective material that can be used. High ablation loss limits the duration of laser protection, and, in complex operating environments (e.g., high-speed tangential airflow), the loose residual structure and weak mechanical strength after ablation further limit the application of ablative protection materials.

(4) Composite-type protection materials adopt composite structural designs and integrate multiple mechanisms through multilayer or sandwich structures; they can exhibit high reflectivity, high melting points, and low thermal conductivity simultaneously or in stages. As a result, they can reflect incident laser energy, withstand the high temperatures generated by deposited energy, and block heat transfer to the substrate, thereby significantly enhancing protection. However, this type of material still requires further optimization in terms of structural weight and design complexity.

Current laser protection materials still face many challenges: metallic reflective materials lack heat resistance; oxide/ceramic reflective materials need higher reflectivity; thermal barrier materials suffer from local overheating; ablative materials have excessive mass loss and limited long-term protection capability; and composite-type protection materials have complex structures and weak multifunctional coupling. In the face of increasingly severe threats of high-power laser damage, existing protection materials are insufficient to meet laser protection requirements, and innovative designs for protective materials urgently need to be developed and implemented.

Future development will focus on three directions: multifunctionally integrated laser protection coatings; energy-conversion-modified anti-laser composites; and bio-inspired intelligent protection systems with intelligent control. By achieving high-level coupling of protection mechanisms, efficient energy dissipation, and intelligent response capability, these directions will enhance protection against high-energy laser threats.