Structural modifications in fused silica induced by ultraviolet fs laser filaments

It is shown that the tight focusing of short ultraviolet laser pulses (248 nm, 450 fs) in the bulk of high bandgap transparent solids (fused silica) can result in structural modifications in the material. These can vary from small changes of the refractive index to birefringence, cracks and voids. This restructuring of the medium is due to the high laser intensities attained, and the plasma that is generated through multi-photon processes. The restructuring comes in the form of a string, which is the result of the nonlinear propagation of the laser beam in the medium as a self-trapped filament. We resume the conditions for the generation of the different types of modifications and comment on the temporal evolution and the role of the plasma strings at the trail of the light filaments.