title: Ciliary white light: optical aspect of ultrashort laser ablation on transparent dielectrics.
abstract: We report on a novel nonlinear optical phenomenon, coined as ciliary white light, during laser ablation of transparent dielectrics. It is observed in 14 different transparent materials including glasses, crystals, and polymers. This phenomenon is also universal with respect to laser polarization, pulse duration, and focusing geometry. We interpret its formation in terms of the nonlinear diffraction of the laser generated white light by the ablation crater covered by nanostructures. It carries rich information on the damage profile and morphology dynamics of the ablated surface, providing a real time in situ observation of the laser ablation process.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, ENSTA/CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique, 828, Boulevard des Maréchaux, Palaiseau F-91762, France. yi.liu@ensta-paristech.fr
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yohann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Brelet
authors.forename: Zhanbing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Linwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitryukovskiy
authors.forename: Aurélien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Houard
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Forestier
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Couairon
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mysyrowicz