2005 APS March Meeting
Monday–Friday, March 21–25, 2005;
Los Angeles, CA
Session B15: Focus Session: Inorganic Glasses
11:15 AM–2:03 PM,
Monday, March 21, 2005
LACC
Room: 405
Sponsoring
Unit:
FIAP
Chair: John Kieffer, University of Michigan
Abstract ID: BAPS.2005.MAR.B15.1
Abstract: B15.00001 : Ultrafast Laser Modification of Inorganic Glasses
11:15 AM–11:51 AM
Preview Abstract
Abstract
Author:
Denise Krol
(Department of Applied Science, UC Davis)
Consider the
interaction between visible or near-infrared laser light with a
``transparent'' material, such as glass. Under normal conditions,
i.e
continuous low power illumination, the glass will transmit the
light.
However, when ultra-short pulses of modest energy of this same
light (for
example 100 fs, 1 $\mu $J laser pulses) are tightly focused into a
micron-size spot, very high, localized (in space and time)
intensities, on
the order of 100 TW cm$^{-2}$ are obtained. Under these
conditions the
laser-materials interaction becomes highly nonlinear and can
result in
permanent changes in the structure of the glass. Since these high
intensities are only achieved at the focal point of the laser
beam, the
effective nonlinear interaction and subsequent modification only
occurs
locally, i.e. within a confined region limited by the size of the
focal
volume. By moving the sample with respect to the laser focus it
is possible
to ``write'' 3-D patterns inside the glass. The structure of the
modification patterns can differ from the unmodified material in
a wide
variety of properties including refractive index, absorption
coefficient,
nonlinear optical susceptibility, crystal structure, morphology
etc.\textbf{
}Applications of this so-called fs laser writing technique are in
optical
data storage, telecommunications and bio-sensing and --imaging. The
experimental tools that are used for modifying the material can in a
different implementation also be used to optically and
spectroscopically
characterize a material with high spatial resolution. In this
talk I will
review the basics of ultrafast laser modification of glass and
present our
results on optical waveguide fabrication in a variety of
inorganic oxide
glasses. I will discuss the behavior of the different glass
systems and show
how confocal laser fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy help us
understand
the relationship between the index changes and the associated
changes in the
atomic scale structure of the glass.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2005.MAR.B15.1