Pondermotive-driven "acceleration" of etch rates for short-pulse laser micromachining of transparent glasses

Summary form only given. The move to picosecond and subpicosecond laser materials processing marks an important transition between conventional micromachining applications using nanosecond lasers and new strong-field interactions driven only by intense femtosecond laser light. Shorter-duration pulses provide more precise etch control and negligible thermal stress for application to a diverse range of materials, including transparent ones such as glass. In this paper, laser ablation of transparent glasses at high field intensity is described in the transitional picosecond domain.