Ultrashort-pulse laser calligraphy

Control of structural modifications inside silica glass by changing the front tilt of an ultrashort pulse is demonstrated, achieving a calligraphic style of laser writing. The phenomena of anisotropic bubble formation at the boundary of an irradiated region and modification transition from microscopic bubbles formation to self-assembled form birefringence are observed, and the physical mechanisms are discussed. The results provide the comprehensive evidence that the light beam with centrosymmetric intensity distribution can produce noncentrosymmetric material modifications. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3010375]