Abstract.
Femtosecond laser pulses can locally induce structural and chemical changes in the bulk of transparent materials, opening the door to the three-dimensional fabrication of optical devices. We review the laser and focusing parameters that have been applied to induce these changes and discuss the different physical mechanisms that play a role in forming them. We then describe a new technique for inducing refractive-index changes in bulk material using a high-repetition-rate femtosecond oscillator. The changes are caused by a localized melting of the material, which results from an accumulation of thermal energy due to nonlinear absorption of the high-repetition-rate train of laser pulses.
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Received: 21 November 2001 / Accepted: 9 July 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002
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ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-858/534-7697, E-mail: cschaffer@ucsd.edu
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ID="**"Current address: University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, La Jolla, CA 92 093, USA
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Schaffer, C., García, J. & Mazur, E. Bulk heating of transparent materials using a high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser . Appl Phys A 76, 351–354 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-002-1819-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-002-1819-4