Comprehensive modeling of structural modification induced by a femtosecond laser pulse inside fused silica glass

A comprehensive theoretical model is proposed based on equations describing the nonlinear propagation of an ultrashort pulse inside transparent material, electron density evolution, non-Fourier heat conduction, and thermo-elasto plastic displacement which are respectively solved by various methods. These methods include the split-step finite difference technique and alternating-direction implicit algorithm, fourth-order Range–Kutta algorithm, hybrid finite-element method/finite-difference method, and finite-element method in both space and time to achieve refractive index changes. The whole chain of processes occurring in the interaction of a focused ultrashort laser pulse with fused silica glass in prevalent conditions of micromachining applications is numerically investigated. By optimizing the numerical method and by using an adaptive mesh approach, the execution time of the program is significantly reduced so that the calculations are done at each time step in a fraction of a second. Simulation results show that the energy and duration of the input pulse are very important parameters in induced changes, but the chirp of the input pulse is not an effective parameter. Consequently, by appropriate setting of those parameters one can design a desired refractive index profile.