Limitations to laser machining of silicon using femtosecond micro-Bessel beams in the infrared

International audienceWe produce and characterize high-angle femtosecond Bessel beams at 1300-nm wavelength leading to nonlinearly ionized plasma micro-channels in both glass and silicon. With microjoule pulse energy, we demonstrate controlled through-modifications in 150-mu m glass substrates. In silicon, strong two-photon absorption leads to larger damages at the front surface but also a clamping of the intensity inside the bulk at a level of approximate to 4 x 10(11) W cm(-2) which is below the threshold for volume and rear surface modification. We show that the intensity clamping is associated with a strong degradation of the Bessel-like profile. The observations highlight that the inherent limitation to ultrafast energy deposition inside semiconductors with Gaussian focusing [Mouskeftaras et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 191103 (2014)] applies also for high-angle Bessel beams. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC