Title

Nonlinear Photoionization And Laser-Induced Damage In Silicate Glasses By Infrared Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Abstract

We show that photoionization of wide band gap silicate glasses by infrared ultrashort laser pulses can occur without laser-induced damage. Two glasses are studied, fused silica and a multi-component silicate photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass. Experiments are performed by low numerical aperture focusing of ultrashort laser pulses (100 fsec<τ<1.5 psec) at the wavelengths 780 nm, 1430 nm, and 1550 nm. Filaments form inside both glasses and are visibly observable due to intrinsic luminescence. Keldysh's theory of nonlinear photoionization is used to model the formation of filaments and values of about 1013 W∈cm-2 for the laser intensity and 10 19 cm-3 for the free electron density are estimated for stable filaments to arise. Laser-induced damage is studied by the generation of a third harmonic from an interface created between a damage site and the surrounding glass matrix. It is found that third harmonic generation occurs only after several thousands of laser shots indicating that damage is not a single-shot phenomena. The ability to photoionize PTR glass without damage by ultrashort laser pulses offers a new approach for fabricating diffractive optical elements in photosensitive glass. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.

Publication Date

7-1-2009

Publication Title

Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics

Volume

96

Issue

1

Number of Pages

127-134

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-009-3526-8

Socpus ID

67649836072 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/67649836072

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