Ciliary White Light: Optical Aspect of Ultrashort Laser Ablation on Transparent Dielectrics

Yi Liu (1) , Yohann Brelet (1) , Zhanbing He (2) , Linwei Yu (3) , Sergey Mitryukovskiy (1) , Aurélien Houard (1) , Benjamin Forestier (1) , Arnaud Couairon (4) , André Mysyrowicz (1)

1 ILM - Interaction Laser-Matière
2 EMAT - Electron Microscopy for Materials Research
3 LPICM - Laboratoire de physique des interfaces et des couches minces [Palaiseau]
4 CPHT - Centre de Physique Théorique [Palaiseau]

We report on a novel nonlinear optical phenomenon, coined as ciliary white light, during laser ablation of transparent dielectrics. It is observed in 14 different transparent materials including glasses, crystals, and polymers. This phenomenon is also universal with respect to laser polarization, pulse duration, and focusing geometry. We interpret its formation in terms of the nonlinear diffraction of the laser generated white light by the ablation crater covered by nanostructures. It carries rich information on the damage profile and morphology dynamics of the ablated surface, providing a real time in situ observation of the laser ablation process.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

Yi Liu, Yohann Brelet, Zhanbing He, Linwei Yu, Sergey Mitryukovskiy, et al.. Ciliary White Light: Optical Aspect of Ultrashort Laser Ablation on Transparent Dielectrics. Physical Review Letters, 2013, 110 (9), pp.097601. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.097601⟩. ⟨hal-00852047⟩