Beginner Seeking Practical Texts for LIBS Laser Optical Setup

I will begin by stating that my background is in theoretical physics
and photonics and I have little experience in "bench optics", lenses
and lasers, other than for optical communications at 100mW.
I have inherited a LIBS laser project I am charged with
reconfiguring on the optical bench, a system with about 4 each of
lenses and mirrors. The laser, a ND:Yag puts out about 200mJ / pulse,
resulting in mid air sparking at the focal points. The prior scientist
pointed out that optimizing the system and finding "hidden focal
points" was quite a problem which was solved with Zemax.
I have read tomes such as Smith and Malacara but I don't find a lot
of material concerning the use of Ray Tracing programs as applied to
lasers and optical bench setups. Of course I can innovate and after a
lot of trial, error and ozone, come up with a workable system (or
perhaps a disaster) but I would really like to read some vendor
documents, books, or applied journal articles that give some practical
hands on type advice and user experiences in such work. (I believe
that Bismarck said he liked to learn from OTHER peoples mistakes (;-
)
I would appreciate any pointers for such literature, if it exists.

Thanks,
Fritz
.

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