title: The role of self-trapped excitons and defects in the formation of nanogratings in fused silica.
abstract: We investigate the role of self-trapped excitons (STEs) and defects in the formation of femtosecond laser pulse induced nanogratings (NGs) in fused silica. Our experiments reveal strongly enhanced NG formation for pulse separations up to the STE lifetime. In addition, the absorption spectra show that the weaker cumulative action of laser pulses for longer temporal separations is predominantly mediated by dangling-bond-type lattice defects that emerge from decaying STEs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany. soeren.richter@uni‐jena.de
authors.forename: Sören
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinrich
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Döring
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Peschel
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tünnermann
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nolte