Lei Yuhao, Shayeganrad Gholamreza, Wang Huijun, Sakakura Masaaki, Yu Yanhao, Wang Lei, Kliukin Dmitrii, Skuja Linards, Svirko Yuri, Kazansky Peter G
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, 8 Kengaraga Strasse, Riga, LV-1063, Latvia.
Light Sci Appl. 2023 Mar 15;12(1):74. doi: 10.1038/s41377-023-01098-2.
Photosensitivity in nature is commonly associated with stronger light absorption. It is also believed that artificial optical anisotropy to be the strongest when created by light with linear polarization. Contrary to intuition, ultrafast laser direct writing with elliptical polarization in silica glass, while nonlinear absorption is about 2.5 times weaker, results in form birefringence about twice that of linearly polarized light. Moreover, a larger concentration of anisotropic nanopores created by elliptically polarized light pulses is observed. The phenomenon is interpreted in terms of enhanced interaction of circularly polarized light with a network of randomly oriented bonds and hole polarons in silica glass, as well as efficient tunneling ionization produced by circular polarization. Applications to multiplexed optical data storage and birefringence patterning in silica glass are demonstrated.
自然界中的光敏性通常与更强的光吸收相关。人们还认为，当由线偏振光产生时，人工光学各向异性最强。与直觉相反，在石英玻璃中用椭圆偏振光进行超快激光直写时，虽然非线性吸收约弱2.5倍，但产生的形式双折射约为线偏振光的两倍。此外，观察到由椭圆偏振光脉冲产生的各向异性纳米孔浓度更高。该现象可通过圆偏振光与石英玻璃中随机取向的键和空穴极化子网络的增强相互作用，以及圆偏振产生的有效隧穿电离来解释。展示了其在石英玻璃中的多路复用光学数据存储和双折射图案化方面的应用。
