Femtosecond laser induced thermophoretic writing of waveguides in silicate glass.

Here in, the fs-laser induced thermophoretic writing of microstructures in ad-hoc compositionally designed silicate glasses and their application as infrared optical waveguides is reported. The glass modification mechanism mimics the elemental thermal diffusion occurring in basaltic liquids at the Earth's mantle, but in a much shorter time scale (10 times faster) and over a well-defined micrometric volume. The precise addition of BaO, NaO and KO to the silicate glass enables the creation of positive refractive index contrast upon fs-laser irradiation.

Generation of high conical angle Bessel-Gauss beams with reflective axicons.

We report the generation of Bessel-Gauss beams of high conical angle, up to 35 deg, using reflective off-axis axicons and a magnification optical system. We experimentally characterize the beams with three-dimensional scans. The high precision of fabrication of the axicons in the vicinity of the axicon singularity allows us to generate a beam with intensity distribution close to analytical description.