Abstract

Femtosecond laser ablation of dielectrics, especially of brittle materials, often results in specific collateral damage in the form of fracture and exfoliation, as a consequence of the mechanical stress induced in the material. Fast electronic relaxation in solids with strong electron-phonon coupling establishes a guideline for using temporally-shaped pulses¹ to exploit dynamical processes and optimize structuring with respect to the reduction of the residual damage.

© 2002 Optical Society of America