Micromachining of bulk glass with bursts of femtosecond laser pulses at variable repetition rates

Oscillator-only femtosecond laser micromachining enables the manufacturing of integrated optical components with circular transverse profiles in transparent materials. The circular profile is due to diffusion of heat accumulating at the focus. We control the heat diffusion by focusing bursts of femtosecond laser pulses at various repetition rates into sodalime glass. We investigate the effect the repetition rate and number of pulses have on the size of the resulting structures. We identify the combinations of burst repetition rate and number of pulses within a burst for which accumulation of heat occurs. The threshold for heat accumulation depends on the number of pulses within a burst. The burst repetition rate and the number of pulses within a burst provide convenient control of the morphology of structures generated with high repetition rate femtosecond micromachining. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.