Characteristics of the damage of transparent solids by ultrashort laser pulses

The shadow photography method was used in a study of the dynamics of, the development of filamentary damage regions which appeared in a KDP crystal under the action of a single ultrashort laser pulse. These damage filaments appeared in the focal region, and they grew in the direction of propagation of the pulse and in the opposite direction. In the former case the growth of the damage region ended earlier. A comparison was made of the damage threshold of various transparent materials (K-8 glass, fused quartz, and KDP crystals) at two wavelengths (1.06 and 0.53 μ).