A femtosecond laser with a 1 kHz repetition rate and two different polarization states was used to fabricate low-loss waveguides in fused silica. Investigations of chemically-mechanically polished waveguide regions using near-field scanning optical microscopy revealed the presence of modifications outside the glass regions directly exposed to a circularly polarized writing laser. These waveguides also exhibited refractive index contrast up to twice as large as that of waveguides written with linearly polarized radiation. The observed differences in refractive index were shown by Raman spectroscopy to correlate to an increased concentration of 3-member silicon-oxygen ring structures. We propose that the observed differences in material properties are due to the polarization dependence of photo-ionization rates in fused silica.

Raman microscopy and refractive near-field profilometry were used to analyze waveguides written in Yb-doped Kigre QX glass under the low repetition-rate (noncumulative-heating) regime. It was found that femtosecond-laser induced refractive index change was due to an increase in the proportion of Q1 P-tetrahedra and the associated increase in the polarizability of the glass. The role of color center formation and removal in this process is clearly defined, phosphorous–oxygen hole centers (POHCs) and PO3− ions form as a result of P–O bonds being broken during the modification process, and the subsequent removal of POHCs give rise to the increased proportion of Q1 P-tetrahedra. This result, when compared to other studies undertaken in the cumulative-heating regime, show conclusively that the mechanism of refractive index change in a particular type of glass can be very different, depending on the irradiation conditions.

A general picture of refractive index change mechanisms in glass modified by a femtosecond laser has proven elusive. In this paper, Raman microscopy was used in conjunction with refractive near-field profilometry to analyse the structure of borosilicate glass (Schott BK7) modified by a femtosecond laser and determine the mechanism of the observed refractive index change. For a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz, it was determined that the refractive index change was due to an elevated population of non-bridging oxygen atoms, resulting in more ionic bonds forming within the glass network and increasing the molar refractivity of the glass. For a pulse repetition rate of 5.1 MHz, the dominant mechanism of refractive index change was densification and rarefaction of the glass network. Different refractive index change mechanisms were attributed to different thermal conditions imparted to the glass under different pulse repetition rates. Implications for device fabrication are also discussed. These findings constitute an important step toward a complete overview of femtosecond-laser-induced refractive index change in glass.