Femtosecond laser exposure of fused silica in the nonablative regime can lead to various localized bulk modifications of the material structure. In this paper, we show that these laser-induced modifications can be used to tune silica thermal expansion properties permanently. In particular, we demonstrate that a given exposer regime leads to lower thermal expansion than the bulk, while other exposure conditions yield the opposite results. This remarkable property enables the possibility to engineer a given thermal expansion behavior by selectively exposing a material volume to a femtosecond laser beam. This finding opens up opportunities for a variety of integrated precision instruments and optical devices for which inertness to thermal fluctuations is essential.
Under certain exposure conditions, a femtosecond laser beam focused in the bulk of fused silica leads to the formation of self-organized structures consisting of a series of "nanolayers," parallel to one another. Remarkably, this laser-induced nanoscale anisotropy offers the possibility to locally engineer macroscopic properties of a given substrate by selectively exposing it in arbitrarily chosen locations to a laser beam with designed polarization states. Although various physical properties are affected by the laser, this paper specifically discusses in-plane elastic properties of these nanostructures. Using a method based on monitoring resonant properties of vibrating cantilevers combined with a mechanical model of the nanostructures, the Young's moduli of individual nanolayers are calculated and used to define the stiffness matrix of the composite structure. The model shows a good agreement with measured mechanical properties of arbitrarily oriented nanostructures. This work demonstrates the predictability and controllability of laser-induced nanoscale mechanical properties and offers a framework for engineering arbitrary elastic properties through 3D laser writing.
Vibration monitoring plays a key role in numerous applications, including machinery predictive maintenance, shock detection, space applications, packaging-integrity monitoring and mining. Here, we investigate mechanical nonlinearities inherently present in suspended glass waveguides as a means for optically retrieving key vibration pattern information. The principle is to use optical phase changes in a coherent light signal travelling through the suspended glass waveguide to measure both optical path elongation and stress build-up caused by a given vibration state. Due to the intrinsic non-linear mechanical properties of double-clamped beams, we show that this information not only offers a means for detecting excessive vibrations but also allows for identifying specific vibration patterns, such as positive or negative chirp, without the need for any additional signal processing. In addition, the manufacturing process based on femtosecond laser exposure and chemical etching makes this sensing principle not only simple, compact and robust to harsh environments but also scalable to a broad frequency range.
A tightly focused femtosecond laser-beam in the non-ablative regime can induce a shockwave sufficiently intense to reach local pressures in the giga-Pascal range or more. In a single beam configuration, the location of the highest-pressure zone is nested within the laser-focus zone, making it difficult to differentiate the effect of the shockwave pressure from photo-induced and plasma relaxation effects. To circumvent this difficulty, we consider two spatially separated focused beams individually acting as quasi-simultaneous pressure-wave emitters. The zone in between the two laser beams where both shockwaves superpose forms a region of extreme pressure range, physically separated from the regions where the plasma formed. Here, we present a detailed material investigation of pressured-induced densification in fused silica occurring in between the foci of two laser beams. The method used is generic and can be implemented in a variety of transparent substrates for high-pressure physics studies. Unlike classical methods, such as the use of diamond anvils, it potentially offers a means to create arbitrary patterns of laser-induced high-pressure impacted zones by scanning the two beams across the specimen volume.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.