Laser Driven Burning and Detonation Waves in Silica-Based Optical Fibers

Laser energy focused in bulk of transparent dielectric creates heated and elevated pressure zone producing nonreversible media destruction. Physical nature of this effect is steady in focus of modern physical studies since laser invention. Silica is quite attractive object for this due to its numerous physical and technical applications. Silica-based optical fibers provided new unique possibility for laser damaged zone study. Single mode optical fiber has constant laser radiation distribution in any transverse cross-section along the full length. This property makes available to observe propagation of energy deposition zone under steady-state conditions as opposed to laser focused into unknown initial volume of transparent dielectric target, particularly for long laser pulses (τ p  > 1ns). The damage zone in optical fiber can expands to any distance to laser direction. Such laser driven wave (LDW) destroys the core and sometimes cladding too. Temperature in fiber optic core can achieve up to ~104 K and silica goes to hot plasma with solid density.