Femtosecond laser-induced damage and filamentary propagation in fused silica. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Bulk damage induced by fs IR laser pulses in silica is investigated both experimentally and numerically. In a strong focusing geometry, a first damage zone is followed by a narrow track with submicron width, indicating a filamentary propagation. The shape and size of the damage tracks are shown to correspond to the zone where the electron density created by optical field ionization and avalanche is close to 10(20) cm(-3). The relative role of avalanche and photoionization is studied. The plasma density produced in the wake of the pulse is shown to saturate around 2-4x10(20) cm(-3).

published proceedings

  • Phys Rev Lett

author list (cited authors)

  • Sudrie, L., Couairon, A., Franco, M., Lamouroux, B., Prade, B., Tzortzakis, S., & Mysyrowicz, A.

citation count

  • 389

complete list of authors

  • Sudrie, L||Couairon, A||Franco, M||Lamouroux, B||Prade, B||Tzortzakis, S||Mysyrowicz, A

publication date

  • October 2002