title: Observation of laser-induced stress waves and mechanism of structural changes inside rock-salt crystals.
abstract: The structural changes inside rock-salt crystals after femtosecond (fs) laser irradiation are investigated using a microscopic pump-probe technique and an elastic simulation. The pump-probe imaging shows that a squircle-shaped stress wave is generated after the fs laser irradiation as a result of the relaxation of thermal stress in the photoexcited region. Pump-probe crossed-Nicols imaging and elastic simulation elucidate that shear stresses and tensile stresses are concentrated in specific regions during the propagation of the stress wave. The shear stresses and tensile stresses observed in this study can explain the characteristic laser-induced structural changes inside rock-salt crystals.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Promotion of Interdisciplinary Education and Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. msakakura@saci.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakakura
authors.forename: Takaya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tochio
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eida
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimotsuma
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kanehira
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishi
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirao