Optimizing laser-induced refractive index changes in “thermal” glasses

Razvan Stoian (1) , Alexandre Mermillod-Blondin (1) , Cyril Mauclair (1) , Nicolas Huot (1) , Eric Audouard (1) , Igor M. Burakov (2) , Nadezhda M. Bulgakova (2) , Yuri P. Meshcheryakov (3) , Arkadi Rosenfeld (4) , Ingolf V. Hertel (4, 5)

1 LHC - Laboratoire Hubert Curien
2 ITP - Institute of Thermophysics
3 IH - Institute of Hydrodynamics
4 MBI - Max-Born-Institut für Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie
5 Fachbereich Physik [Freie Univeristät Berlin] | Department of Physics [Freie Univeristät Berlin]

Ultrafast laser radiation usually induces rarefaction and negative refractive index changes in glasses with high thermal expansion. Acting on the laser-induced heat source, tailored intensity envelopes can generate in turn thermo-mechanical compaction. This leads to positive refractive index changes and to potential creation of light guiding structures. Using additional spatial wavefront corrections, the compaction mechanisms can be preserved at arbitrary depths.

Keywords: adaptive laser processing

Domains: Optics / Photonic

Razvan Stoian, Alexandre Mermillod-Blondin, Cyril Mauclair, Nicolas Huot, Eric Audouard, et al.. Optimizing laser-induced refractive index changes in “thermal” glasses. P. Corkum, K. Nelson, R. Schoenlein, S. de Silvestri. Ultrafast Phenomena XVI, Springer, pp.970, 2009, Springer Series in Chemical Physics. ⟨ujm-00542992⟩