Fabricating nanostructures on fused silica using femtosecond infrared pulses combined with sub-nanojoule ultraviolet pulses.

Circular craters with diameters of 500 nm are fabricated on the surface of fused silica by femtosecond ultraviolet-infrared (UV-IR) pulse trains with 0.8 nJ UV pulse energy. UV damage thresholds at different IR energies and UV-IR delays are measured. Diameters and depths of the ablated craters can be modified by adding the IR pulse and varying the UV-IR delays. These results demonstrate the feasibility of nanomachining using short wavelength lasers with pulse energy far below normal damage thresholds.