Nanometer precision material ablation and optical breakdown with sub-10 fs pulses

Abstract

We report measurements of the optical breakdown threshold and ablation depth in dielectrics for laser pulse durations between 5 ps and 5 fs at the Ti:sapphire wavelength. The application of the shortest pulses leads to sub-μm ablation rates, smooth morpholgies of the generated structures and reduces the statistical behaviour of material removal. With 5-fs pulses a light intensity of 1014 W/cm2 can be applied to fused silica without causing damage.