Laser-induced breakdown as a function of pulse duration: from 7 ns to 150 fs

Detao Du; Xinbing Liu; Jeffrey A. Squier; Gerard A. Mourou

doi:10.1117/12.213723

14 July 1995 Laser-induced breakdown as a function of pulse duration: from 7 ns to 150 fs

Detao Du, Xinbing Liu, Jeffrey A. Squier, Gerard A. Mourou

Proceedings Volume 2428, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1994; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.213723
Event: Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1994, 1994, Boulder, CO, United States

Abstract

Single-shot laser induced breakdown, in wide band gap materials such as SiO₂ and MgF₂, has been studied over almost 5 orders of magnitude in duration from 150 fs to 7 ns. A Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplification system was used in this experiement, so the pulse duration could be continuously adjusted without changing any other parameters. The damage threshold was detected by looking at the plasma formation and the change of material transmission coefficient. The avalanche mechanism was found to dominate over the entire pulse-width range even for 150 fs pulses where we would expect multi-photon processes to take over. A strong departure from the conventional fluence threshold scaling law is observed for pulses shorter than 10 ps, where beyond this point the fluence threshold increases. Also, it is observed for the first time that for short pulses the damage threshold becomes very accurate and less statistical than that for longer pulses.

Citation Download Citation

Detao Du, Xinbing Liu, Jeffrey A. Squier, and Gerard A. Mourou "Laser-induced breakdown as a function of pulse duration: from 7 ns to 150 fs", Proc. SPIE 2428, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1994, (14 July 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.213723

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