Femtosecond laser micromachining of bulk glass at oscillator energies

Using femtosecond laser pulses generated by a 25-MHz Ti:Sapphire laser oscillator, we micromachine bulk glass. The laser is focused by a 1.4 numerical aperture microscope objective, allowing the breakdown threshold to be reached with modest energies (4.5 nJ). Single-shot damage is sub-micron in size. Because the pulses arrive faster than energy can diffuse out of the focal volume, multiple shot damage with this laser is thermal in nature. Successive pulses add more and more heat to the sample, melting a micron-sized volume. Using this thermal machining, we have written single-mode waveguides inside bulk glass.