Experiment-Based Quantitative Analysis of Picosecond Pulse-Induced Morphological Changes in Fused Silica

Abstract

Due to its excellent quality, fused silica has been widely used in various industrial applications. The nonlinear absorptive nature of ultrafast laser pulses enables the induction of morphological changes within the bulk transparent materials. In this study, the interior modification of fused silica is induced by a picosecond pulsed laser, and the relationship between processing parameters and the modification geometry is demonstrated. Three different patterns are identified according to the geometric characteristics of the modification. Furthermore, a simple experiment-based model considering the incubation effect is put forward to predict picosecond pulse-induced morphological changes in fused silica.