Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/193682

Title

Laser-matter interaction in the bulk of a transparent solid: confined microexplosion and void formation

Author(s)

Gamaly, Eugene G.;  Juodkazis, Saulius;  Nishimura, Koichi;  Misawa, Hiroaki;  Luther-Davies, Barry;  Hallo, Ludovic;  Nicolai, Philippe;  Tikhonchuk, Vladimir T.

Abstract

We present here the experimental and theoretical studies of a single femtosecond laser pulse interaction inside a bulk of transparent media (sapphire, glass, polymer). This interaction leads to the drastic transformations in a solid resulting in a void formation inside a dielectric. The laser pulse energy is absorbed within a volume of approximately 0.15 μm3 creating a pressure and temperature comparable to that in the core of a strong multi-kilo-tons explosion. The material within this volume is rapidly atomized, ionized, and converted into a tiny super-hot dense cloud of expanding plasma that generates strong shock and rarefaction waves which result in the formation of a void, whose diameter is ∼200 nm (for a 100 nJ pulse in sapphire). The way this structure forms can be understood from high-temperature plasma hydrodynamics. We demonstrate that unique states of matter characterized by temperatures ∼105 K, heating rates up to the 1018 K∕s, and pressures more than 100 times the strength of any material were created using a standard table-top laser in well-controlled laboratory conditions. We discuss the properties of the laser-affected solid and possible routes of laser-affected material transformation to the final state long after the pulse end. These studies will find application for the design of new materials and three-dimensional optical memory devices, and for formation of photonic band-gap crystals.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 73, no. 21 (Jun 2006), article no. 214101

Publication year

2006

FOR Code(s)

01 Mathematical Sciences;  02 Physical Sciences;  09 Engineering

Keyword(s)

Dielectrics;  Femtosecond laser pulses;  Laser-matter interaction;  Microexplosions;  Temperature;  Transparent solids;  Void formation

Publisher

American Physical Society

ISSN

1098-0121

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.73.214101

Copyright

Copyright © 2006 The American Physical Society.

Additional information

The authors acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council.

Peer reviewed