Citation:
J. B. Ashcom and E. Mazur. 2001. “Femtosecond laser-induced microexplosions in transparent materials.” In . LEOS 2001. Publisher's Version
Abstract:
By focusing femtosecond laser pulses with high numerical-aperture microscope objectives, we micromachine optical glass using energies that are in the range of modern laser oscillators. When a femtosecond laser pulse is tightly focused inside a transparent material, energy deposition occurs only at the focus, where the laser intensity is high enough to cause absorption through nonlinear processes. When enough energy is deposited, the material is damaged and a localized change in the index of refraction is produced. By scanning the focus through the sample, very precise, three-dimensional microstructuring can be achieved.See also: Femtosecond laser microfabrication