Ultrafast nanoporous silica formation driven by femtosecond laser irradiation

A type of glass modifications occurring after femto- second laser irradiation gives rise to strong (10 −2 ). This form birefringence is thought to be related to index nanostructure (called nanogratings). Analyzing induced tracks in fused silica using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with nm resolution shows that nanostructures are porous nanoplanes with an av- erage index lower than typical silica (� n ∼ -0.20). Their origin is explained as arising from fast decomposition of the glass un- der localized, high-intensity femtosecond laser radiation where strong nonlinear, multiphoton-induced photoionization leads to plasma generation. Mechanistic details include Coulom- bic explosions characteristic of strong photoionization and the production of self-trapped exciton (STE). Rapid relaxation of these STE prevents recombination and dissociated atomic oxy- gen instead recombines with each other to form molecular oxygen pointed out using Raman microscopy. Some of it is dissolved in the condensed glass whilst the rest is trapped within nanovoids. A chemical recombination can only occur at 1200 ◦ C for many hours. This explains the thermal stability

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