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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Interaction Of Ultrashort-Laser Pulses With Induced Undercritical Plasmas In Fused Silica, Jeremy Gulley, Sebastian Winkler, William Dennis, Carl Liebig, Razvan Stoian Aug 2013

Interaction Of Ultrashort-Laser Pulses With Induced Undercritical Plasmas In Fused Silica, Jeremy Gulley, Sebastian Winkler, William Dennis, Carl Liebig, Razvan Stoian

Jeremy R. Gulley

Ultrafast light-material interactions near the damage threshold are often studied using postmortem analysis of damaged dielectric materials. Corresponding simulations of ultrashort pulse propagation through the material are frequently used to gain additional insight into the processes leading to such damage. However, comparison between such experimental and numerical results is often qualitative, and pulses near to but not exceeding the damage threshold leave no permanent changes in the material for postmortem analysis. In this article, a series of experiments is presented that measures the near- and far-field properties of a 140-fs laser pulse after propagation through a fused silica sample in …


Modeling Free-Carrier Absorption And Avalanching By Ultrashort Laser Pulses, Jeremy Gulley Aug 2011

Modeling Free-Carrier Absorption And Avalanching By Ultrashort Laser Pulses, Jeremy Gulley

Jeremy R. Gulley

In the past decade it was demonstrated experimentally that negatively-chirped laser pulses can lower the surface LIDT for wide band-gap materials by decreasing the number of photons required for photoionization on the leading edge of the pulse. Similarly, simulations have shown that positively-chirped pulses resulting from selffocusing and self-phase modulation in bulk dielectrics can alter the onset of laser-induced material modifications by increasing the number of photons required for photoionization on the leading edge of the pulse. However, the role of multi-chromatic effects in free-carrier absorption and avalanching has yet to be addressed. In this work a frequency-selective model of …


Frequency Dependence In The Initiation Of Laser-Induced Damage, Jeremy Gulley Aug 2010

Frequency Dependence In The Initiation Of Laser-Induced Damage, Jeremy Gulley

Jeremy R. Gulley

Numerous studies have investigated the role of photoionization in ultrafast laser-induced damage of bulk dielectrics. This study examines the role of spectral width and instantaneous laser frequency in laser-induced damage using a frequency dependent multiphoton ionization model and numerical simulation of an 800 nm laser pulse propagating through fused silica. When the individual photon wavelengths are greater than 827 nm, an additional photon is required for photoionization, reducing the probability of the event by many orders of magnitude. Simulation results suggest that this frequency dependence may significantly affect the processes of laser-induced damage and filamentation.


Ultrashort-Pulse Propagation Through Free-Carrier Plasmas, Jeremy Gulley, William Dennis Mar 2010

Ultrashort-Pulse Propagation Through Free-Carrier Plasmas, Jeremy Gulley, William Dennis

Jeremy R. Gulley

The past decade has seen frequent use of a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation to describe ultrashort pulse propagation in materials where free-carrier plasmas are present. The optical contribution from the resulting free-current densities in this equation is often described using a classical Drude model. However, the ultimate form of this contribution in the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is somewhat inconsistent in the literature. We clarify this ambiguity by deriving the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation from the classical wave equation containing a free-current density contribution. The Drude model is then used to obtain an expression for the complex free-carrier current density …


Simulation Of Ultrashort Laser Pulse Propagation And Plasma Generation In Nonlinear Media. Dissertation, Jeremy Gulley Apr 2009

Simulation Of Ultrashort Laser Pulse Propagation And Plasma Generation In Nonlinear Media. Dissertation, Jeremy Gulley

Jeremy R. Gulley

In this dissertation, a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is derived, which describes the propagation of ultrashort laser pulses through nonlinear materials in which plasma generation and laser-induced damage can occur. Differences between this model and models currently used in the literature are investigated and analyzed by numerical simulations. Ultrafast laser-induced material modification is investigated using this method by simulating the propagation of fully 3+1D (3 spatial plus 1 time dimension) laser pulses, which are numerically constructed from experimentally measured beam profiles and pulse shape data. The latest of these investigations reveals that standard rate-equation models for the free-electron plasma generation …


Simulation And Analysis Of Ultrafast-Laser-Pulse-Induced Plasma Generation In Fused Silica, Jeremy Gulley, Sebastian Winkler, W. M. Dennis May 2008

Simulation And Analysis Of Ultrafast-Laser-Pulse-Induced Plasma Generation In Fused Silica, Jeremy Gulley, Sebastian Winkler, W. M. Dennis

Jeremy R. Gulley

Recent experiments on optical damage by ultrashort laser pulses have demonstrated that the temporal pulse shape can dramatically influence plasma generation in fused silica. We use a modified 3+1D nonlinear Schrödinger equation for the pulse propagation coupled to a rate equation for the plasma density in the dielectric material to simulate pulse propagation and plasma formation in fused silica. We use these simulations to analyze the influence of pulse shape and beam geometry on the formation of the electron plasma and hence modification in the bulk material. In particular, we simulate the effect of pulses reconstructed from experimental data. It …


Simulation And Analysis Of Ultrafast Laser Pulse Induced Plasma Generation In Dielectric Materials, Jeremy Gulley, Sebastian Winkler, William Dennis Mar 2007

Simulation And Analysis Of Ultrafast Laser Pulse Induced Plasma Generation In Dielectric Materials, Jeremy Gulley, Sebastian Winkler, William Dennis

Jeremy R. Gulley

Recent experiments on optical damage by ultrashort laser pulses have demonstrated that the temporal pulseshape can dramatically influence plasma generation in fused silica and sapphire. In this work a modified 3+1D nonlinear Schroedinger equation for the pulse propagation coupled to a rate equation for the plasma density in the dielectric material is used to simulate pulse propagation and plasma formation in a range of dielectric materials. We use these simulations to analyze the influence of pulse-width, pulse-shape and beam geometry on the formation of the electron plasma and hence damage in the bulk material. In particular, when possible, we simulate …