Recording and reading of three-dimensional optical memory in glasses

We report on three-dimensional (3D) optical memory recording and reading in glass by femtosecond pulses. Optically induced dielectric breakdown of glass is a mechanism of recording. The formulae of dielectric breakdown presented are applicable, in principle, for any crystalline or amorphous dielectric material. Scaling dependences of the probabilities of multi-photon and impact ionization are given. The measured threshold of an in-bulk dielectric breakdown of silica was reproduced numerically by implementing the ionization potential of Si (8.15 eV) for calculations. Exact measures of focal spot size and pulse duration at the focus allowed us to evaluate the intensity of a pulse during recording of 3D optical memory bits with high accuracy. The readout of the 3D optical memory was carried out by the white-light continuum generated from the previously damaged sites (recorded memory bits). The mechanism of the readout was a four-photon parametric interaction. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Ky; 42.70.Ce; 42.79.Vb     

Dynamics of light-induced reflectivity switching in gallium films deposited on silica by pulsed laser ablation

We present what is to our knowledge the first experimental study of light-induced reflectivity changes at an alpha-Ga/Si interface irradiated by femtosecond and picosecond laser pulses. After exposure, the reflectivity can increase from R?0.55 , which is typical for alpha-Ga , to R?0.8 , which is close to that of liquid Ga. The initial step in the reflectivity change of 2-4 ps is resolved with 150-fs laser pulses. The light-induced reflectivity change relaxes during 100ns-10 mus , depending strongly on the background temperature of the Ga mirror and the laser fluence.     

Ultra-fast disordering by fs-lasers: Lattice superheating prior to the entropy catastrophe

Point defects and lattice heating are two major sources for the catastrophic disordering of a crystal in equilibrium. I demonstrate that the thermal point defects formation time in a femtosecond laser (fs-laser)-excited solid is the longest of all relaxation times, while the ultra-fast contribution to the entropy changes from electrons is minor in comparison to the catastrophe value. Thus non-thermal disordering solely by electron excitation prior to the energy transfer to the lattice is proved to be thermodynamically impossible. The swiftly excited solid can be disordered only if a lattice is superheated over the critical temperature defined by the entropy catastrophe. The presented analysis of experiments on fs excitation of different solids is consistent with theory.     

Laser ablation of carbon at the threshold of plasma formation

The ionization of laser-ablated vapours with lasers producing ns duration pulses at various wavelengths has been studied in order to understand the mechanisms of the vapour-plasma transition. It has been established that there are several regimes characterizing the laser-target interaction which depend on laser intensity, wavelength, and pulse duration. The range of laser intensities for optimal laser evaporation is determined by the condition of transparent vapours. The intensity range is upper-limited by the opaque plasma formation due to vapour optical breakdown. Results are given for laser evaporation of graphite with Nd:YAG laser (1.064 7m), KrF laser (248 nm) and ArF laser (193 nm). For the UV laser wavelength the regime of skin-effect interaction was proposed as the mechanism of ion acceleration, and the range of validity of the skin-effect mode was established. With UV lasers the interaction has a bimodal nature: the interaction may proceed initially in the skin effect regime, resulting in a few high-energy ions, until hydrodynamic expansion begins at a later stage. The skin-effect interaction at the initial stage of the UV laser pulse gives the first, to our knowledge, explanation for the acceleration of ions up to ~100 eV at low laser intensities of 10⁸-10⁹ W/cm² and ns-range pulse duration.     

Warm dense matter at the bench-top: Fs-laser-induced confined micro-explosion

We report the experimental evidence for creation of Warm Dense Matter (WDM) in ultrafast laser-induced micro-explosion inside a sapphire (Al₂O₃) crystal. We show that the WDM can be formed by a 100 nJ fs-pulse if the following conditions are satisfied: (1) the laser pulse is tightly focused to inside of the bulk of transparent material so the intensity at focus is two orders of magnitude higher than the optical breakdown threshold; (2) the pulse duration is shorter than the electron-ion energy exchange time; and, (3) the absorbed energy density is above the Young’s modulus for the material studied. The empty void created inside a sapphire crystal surrounded by a shell of compressed material provides the direct evidence of the maximum pressure above the Young’s modulus of sapphire (∼400 GPa). Synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the shell revealed the presence of novel super-dense bcc-Al crystalline phase predicted at pressures above ∼380 GPa theoretically, which has never been observed experimentally before neither in nature in laboratory experiments. These results show that confined micro-explosion induced by tightly focussed fs-laser inside a transparent solid opens new routes for synthesis of new materials and study of WDM at a laboratory bench-top.     

Mechanisms of ablation-rate decrease in multiple-pulse laser ablation

We present two sets of experimental results on the ablation-rate decrease with increase of the number of consecutive laser pulses hitting the same spot on the target surface. We have studied laser ablation of a carbon target with nanosecond pulses in two different interaction regimes: one with a XeCl laser (λ=308 nm) and the other with a Nd:YAG laser (λ=1064 nm), in both cases at the intensity ∼5×10⁸ W/cm² Two different mechanisms were found to be responsible for the ablation-rate decrease; they are directly related to the two different laser–matter interaction regimes. The UV-laser interaction is in the regime of transparent vapour (surface absorption). The increase of the neutral vapour density in the crater produced by the preceding laser pulses is the main reason for the decrease of ablation rate. With the IR laser each single laser pulse interacts with a partially ionised plume. With increase of the number of pulses hitting the same spot on the target surface, the laser–matter interaction regime gradually changes from the near-surface absorption to the volume absorption, resulting in the decrease in absorption in the target and thus in the decrease in the ablation rate. The change in the evaporation rate was considered for both vacuum and reactive-gas environments. Received: 21 February 2001 / Accepted: 26 February 2001 / Published online: 23 May 2001     

Electron–phonon energy relaxation in bismuth excited by ultrashort laser pulse: temperature and fluence dependence

We present analysis of the experiments on excitation of bismuth by ultrafast laser pulses and compare with heating bismuth in equilibrium conditions. The analysis shows that the electron–phonon relaxation time is a strong function of the lattice temperature. We developed a kinetic theory, which predicts well the experimental results. We demonstrate that lattice heating and re-structuring with the temperature-dependent energy exchange rates occurs much faster than what follows from the two-temperature model with constant relaxation factor. The analytic formulae corrected by equilibrium and non-equilibrium data allowed the interpretation of various experiments without controversy. We demonstrate that all observed ultrafast transformation of bismuth are purely thermal in nature, thus excluding the conjectures about non-thermal melting.