Laser-induced Black-body Heating (LIBBH) as a Method for Glass Surface Modification

The technique for laser-assisted modification of glass surface is suggested. The method is based on the heating of glass by graphite plate irradiated by laser being in direct contact with the glass surface from the backside. Transparency of glass and strong absorption of graphite for an incident laser radiation provide the diversity of applicable lasers wavelength and pulse duration. In our case, the pulsed fiber NIR laser was used. The surface densification of porous glass as well as creation of various micro-optical elements on the quartz glass surface are reported.