Linear and Nonlinear Photoionization of Silicate Glasses

An extensive use of powerful laser radiation in such areas as optical communication and data storage, laser processing, photolithography, etc. attracts more and more attention to the problems of both stability and photo-controlled transformations of optical materials under intensive optical illumination. Interaction between intensive optical radiation and matter is usually connected with different thermal effects and different types of photoionization. The history of the research in this direction is rather long and counts hundreds of publications dedicated to features of optical absorption, photoinduced phenomena, and laser-induced damage of silicate glasses. The discussion will be concentrated at the consequent consideration of features of optical absorption, linear photoionization, and different mechanisms of nonlinear photoionization. The glasses for consideration are the main types of glasses used in optical devices, such as alkaline-silicate, sodium-calcium-silicate, borosilicate, and leadsilicate glasses. This survey does not provide the whole list of references (it is huge) but shows a number of publications which include necessary references.