Void and micro-crack generation in transparent materials with high-energy first-order vector Bessel beam

In this work, we present efficient generation of a high-quality vector Bessel beam using an S-wave plate (radial/azimuth polarization converter) together with an ordinary glass axicon. We examine laser-induced modifications in glass with different pulse durations. We achieve material cracking and observe dominant crack propagation directions caused by the generated beam’s intensity asymmetry. By translating the beam, we demonstrate potential application of vector Bessel beams and their transverse polarization components for microprocessing of transparent materials using ultra-short pulses.