The recent development of sources able to deliver laser pulses with a duration of a few optical cycles has created many opportunities for fundamental research. Few-cycle laser pulse sources are now commercially available and are able to deliver energetic pulses (tens of micro-joules) at a MHz repetition rate. With such an extremely short pulse duration (<10 fs FWHM at 800 nm), the amount of energy required to reach the breakdown threshold in dielectrics is minimal, thus suggesting that few-cycle laser pulses are a very promising tool for reducing the heat affected zone and therefore the amount of thermo-induced stress during and after irradiation in transparent materials. In this article, the potential relevance of few-cycle laser pulses for microprocessing fused silica is examined. In particular, we demonstrate the fabrication of optical microstructures in the volume as well as on the surface of undoped fused silica.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.