Berlin 2001 – scientific programme
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Q: Quantenoptik
Q 10: Poster: Nonlinear Optics
Q 10.18: Poster
Tuesday, April 3, 2001, 12:30–15:00, AT2
Dielectric breakdown induced by femtosecond laser pulses — •Bärbel Rethfeld1, Andreas Kaiser2, Ping Zhou1, Klaus Sokolowski-Tinten1, and Dietrich von der Linde1 — 1Institut für Laser- und Plasmaphysik, Universität Essen, D-45117 Essen, Germany — 2Max–Planck–Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, D-01187 Dresden, Germany
When an insulator is irradiated by a laser of sufficient high intensity, it may become highly absorbing. This threshold process is known as dielectric breakdown. In the nanosecond and picosecond time regime the breakdown mechanism is well understood, whereas there are several open questions concerning the breakdown on a femtosecond time scale. We present experimental and theoretical investigations to clarify the nature of femtosecond laser-induced dielectric breakdown. Experiments are performed on the surface and in the bulk of different materials. We compare theoretical models to calculate the temporal evolution of the electron density in the conduction band of the dielectric.