Color center formation in soda-lime glass with femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

We show that exposure of soda-lime glass to ultrafast laser pulses at 800 nm causes coloration ͑darkening͒. We have characterized this coloring with time-resolved measurements of the transmission of 633 nm light through the glass during laser exposure. Reverse processes ͑partial bleaching͒ operate on time scales of s to seconds. The competition between coloration after the femtosecond pulse and the subsequent transmission recovery limits the darkening that can be achieved at a given femtosecond pulse energy and repetition rate. The response of soda-lime glass to 400 and 267 nm ultrafast pulses is quite similar, although much lower pulse energies are required for darkening. We argue that darkening is due to absorption processes that produce mobile charge carriers, which then interact to produce trapped hole centers (H 3 ϩ) that absorb strongly at 633 nm. Trapped electrons ͑that form E centers͒ are the likely cause of the accompanying loss of transmission in the near ultraviolet. Finally, we show that diffraction gratings can be rapidly and easily produced in this material using holographic methods.

Femtosecond laser induced phenomena in transparent solid materials: Fundamentals and applications

“…The color centers can selectively absorb light and make certain transparent materials colored. As mentioned previously, the extremely high power density allows for strong nonlinear interactions between femtosecond laser pulses and the transparent materials, which can be used to color various glass and transparent crystals [149][150][151][152][153][154]. Efimov et al report that short-wavelength component of the supercontinuum is generated in the silicate glass after exposure to the femtosecond laser irradiation (850 nm), which causes photoionization of silicate glass and finally color center formation [149].…”

Modeling of nonlinear responses in BK7 glass under irradiation of femtosecond laser pulses

“…Theoretical modelNowadays, it is accepted(Said et al 1992;Smektala et al 2002;Bhawalkar et al 1996;Lonzaga et al 2003;Efimov et al 1998) that the multi-photon absorption phenomenon…”

Permanent data recording in transparent materials by using a nanojoule-class pulse laser

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] 3D optical data storage using this effect has been proposed. 12,13) In our previous work, silica glass was chosen as a recording medium, and it was shown that data recorded in this medium had a semi-permanent lifetime.…”