LASER-INDUCED BREAKDOWN IN OPTICAL-MATERIALS

The understanding of the physical processes that lead to laser-induced breakdown in bulk materials and on their surfaces is reviewed. The roles and interplay of various mechanisms, which depend on material properties and the laser light intensity and frequency, are discussed, along with the experimental basis for electron avalanche behavior at optical frequencies. Multiphoton ionization is described. Tabulations of measured breakdown thresholds for transparent solids (bulk and surfaces), metal surfaces, liquids, and gases, and of multiphoton absorption coefficients, are presented. Experiments needed for further progress are discussed.