Abstract

Long self-trapped femtosecond ultraviolet filaments created in the bulk of pure fused silica are used to induce permanent structural changes in the medium. We monitor the laser pulse propagation as a filamentary structure and the plasma string left at its trail. We investigate and demonstrate the link of the filament-induced plasma to the permanent structural changes left in the medium. Specific electron density thresholds are found for the induced modifications.

© 2007 Optical Society of America

Beam transformation and permanent modification in fused silica induced by femtosecond filaments

Viaceslav Kudriasov, Eugenijus Gaizauskas, and Valdas Sirutkaitis
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 22(12) 2619-2627 (2005)

Filamentation-induced bulk modification in fused silica by excimer laser

Haibo Zhang, Zhijun Yuan, Ren Ye, Bing He, Yunfeng Qi, and Jun Zhou
Opt. Mater. Express 7(10) 3680-3690 (2017)

Long-range filamentary propagation of subpicosecond ultraviolet laser pulses in fused silica

S. Tzortzakis, D. G. Papazoglou, and I. Zergioti
Opt. Lett. 31(6) 796-798 (2006)

Physical mechanisms of fused silica restructuring and densification after femtosecond laser excitation [Invited]

D. G. Papazoglou and S. Tzortzakis
Opt. Mater. Express 1(4) 625-632 (2011)

Spectroscopic characterization of different femtosecond laser modification regimes in fused silica

Wilbur J. Reichman, James W. Chan, Christopher W. Smelser, Stephen J. Mihailov, and Denise M. Krol
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24(7) 1627-1632 (2007)