Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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P: Plasmaphysik

P 21: Poster: Plasma-Wand Wechselwirkung 2, Theorie 2, Dichte Plasmen 1, Schwerionen- und lasererzeugte Plasmen 2

P 21.10: Poster

Monday, March 7, 2005, 16:30–18:30, Poster HU

Dynamics of plasma filaments during the direct inscription of microstructures in glasses by self-focused femtosecond light pulses — •Vladimir Mezentsev¹, Jürgen Dreher², and Rainer Grauer² — ¹Electronic Engineering, Aston University, Birmingham, UK — ²Theoretische Physik I, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany

We present a comprehensive invesigation of plasma filament dynamics during the process of direct inscription dynamically resolved in time and space by means of adaptive mesh refinement. Direct inscription of the complex microstructures in refractive materials by means of intense femtosecond radiation is one of the novel enabling technologies in modern photonics. This technology implies that pre-focused femtosecond light pulses produce phase transitions and create domains with modified refractive index. Self-focusing of the intense laser pulse is a key physical phenomenon leading to a multi-photon ionization at its final stage. In fact the very formation of plasma filament limits the catastrophic damage due to defocusing and multi-photon absorption. Eventually, the thermalization and recombination of the plasma filament leads to the modification of medium. The dynamics of the light-induced plasma filaments is extremely complex and defined by many factors. It is an extremely fast process evolving at the very fine spatial scales. We have studied the detailed evolution of plasma filaments and the role of pulse and media parameters on the shape of resulting filaments. The results are compared with experimentally obtained shapes of domains with modified refractive index.