Thermal effects in three-dimensional recording by femto/nano-second pulses

Thermal effects are unavoidable in laser material processing and are present, to some extent, even in the case when ultra-short (sub-picosecond) pulsed irradiation is used. We discuss here the matters of high-precision energy delivery into micrometer-sized volumes for three-dimensional (3D) laser microfabrication. Precise account of the absorbed energy, pulse duration, and focal spot size allows to optimize laser processing parameters. As an example, a 3D micro-structuring of silica with better than 15 μm resolution is demonstrated by pulses of 11 ns duration and 266 nm wavelength (for a focusing by a low numerical aperture NA = 0.029 lens). The two photon absorption coefficient of silica, β s 60 ± 10 cm/GW, at 266 nm has been determined. The thermal black-body type emission of non-equilibrated electrons is discussed as a possible light source for 3D modification and structuring of photo-sensitive and photo-polymerizable materials. It is also demonstrated that optical properties of ionized dielectrics can be used to determine the temperature.