High repetition rate femtosecond laser irradiation of fused silica studied by Raman spectroscopy

In this article, we have focused our attention on the femtosecond laser irradiation of fused silica to study the mechanisms of micro-cavities and nanofibers formation. The nanofibers formed have small diameters and are extremely long, with a typical aspect ratio of 1000. Structural rearrangements and density variation have been studied by micro-Raman spectroscopy as a function of the irradiation parameters. 3D spatial characterizations of structural reorganizations and molecular oxygen production have given insights on high-temperature and high-pressure silica transformations by high repetition rate femtosecond laser irradiation. (C)2015 Optical Society of America