Open AccessProperties of optical breakdown in BK7 glass induced by an extended-cavity femtosecond laser oscillator
Author(s) -
T. Binh,
Mark C. Phillips,
Paul Miller,
Mark W. Kimmel,
Justin Britsch,
Seong Ho Cho
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.17.002739
Subject(s) - materials science , femtosecond , optics , laser , plasma , absorption (acoustics) , reflection (computer programming) , optoelectronics , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
Using an extended-cavity femtosecond oscillator, we investigated optical breakdown in BK7 glass caused by the accumulated action of many laser pulses. By using a pump-probe experiment and collecting the transmitted pump along with the reflected pump and the broadband light generated by the optical breakdown, we measured the build-up time to optical breakdown as a function of the pulse energy, and we also observed the instability of the plasma due to the effect of defocusing and shielding created by the electron gas. The spectrum of the broadband light emitted by the optical breakdown and the origin of the material modification in BK7 glass was studied. We developed a simple model of electromagnetic wave propagation in plasma that is consistent with the observed behavior of the reflection, absorption, and transmission of the laser light.