Investigation of structural mechanisms of laser-written waveguide formation through third-harmonic microscopy

The mechanisms of laser-induced modification of transparent materials are complex combinations of different processes that depend on the material itself and a range of processing parameters. As such, the mechanisms are still subject to ongoing study. We use a custom-built adaptive third-harmonic gen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guan, J, Liu, X, Booth, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Optical Society of America 2019
Description
Summary:The mechanisms of laser-induced modification of transparent materials are complex combinations of different processes that depend on the material itself and a range of processing parameters. As such, the mechanisms are still subject to ongoing study. We use a custom-built adaptive third-harmonic generation (THG) microscope to study those mechanisms. New femtosecond-laser-written phenomena are revealed through this method of imaging. This Letter, together with previous reports by Miyamoto Opt. Express 24, 25718 (2016) [CrossRef] and Fernandez J. Phys. D 48, 155101 (2015) [CrossRef] suggest that the distribution of the generated plasma during writing is responsible for the newly revealed phenomena.