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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 15: Interaction with strong or short laser pulses I (joint session A/MO)
MO 15.4: Talk
Wednesday, March 4, 2026, 15:30–15:45, N 2
Modeling ultrafast plasma formation in dielectrics — •Julia Apportin1, Christian Peltz1, Thomas Fennel1, Misha Ivanov2, and Anton Husako2 — 1Institute for Physics, Rostock, Germany — 2Max Born Institute, Berlin, Germany
Laser induced damage in dielectrics due to short pulse excitation plays a major role in a variety of scientific and industrial applications, such as the preparation of 3D structured evanescently coupled wave-guides [1] or nano-gratings [2]. The corresponding irreversible material modifications predominantly originate from higher order nonlinearities like strong field ionization and plasma formation, which makes their consistent description imperative for any kind of theoretical modeling. In particular the associated feedback effects on the field propagation can have drastic implications.
We developed a numerical model, that combines a local description of the plasma dynamics in terms of corresponding rate equations for ionization, collisions and heating [3] with a fully electromagnetic field propagation via the Finite-Difference-Time-Domain method, adding self-consistent feedback effects like the sudden buildup of plasma mirrors. Considering laser pulses of constant energy (30 nJ), we investigate the influence of pulse duration and focus size on material modification and compare the resulting geometries, energy deposition and critical plasma volume.
[1] L. Englert et al, Opt. Express 15, 17855-17862 (2007)
[2] M. Alameer et al, Opt. Lett. 43, 5757-5760 (2018)
[3] B. Rethfeld, Phys. Rev. B 73 035101 (2006)
Keywords: FDTD; Nanoplasma; Micro-machining