Laser amorphisation of glass ceramics: basic properties and new possibilities for manufacturing microoptical elements

The laser amorphisation of glass ceramics (LAGC) is studied by optical pyrometry and video recording. The mechanism of local LAGC as a structural phase transition determined by the temperature kinetics in the laser-irradiated region is proposed. The ranges of the power density and exposures to the 10.6-μm IR radiation required for amorphisation of the typical glass ceramics, a SiO₂ – Al₂O₃ – CaO – MgO – TiO₂ sital are determined. It is shown that LAGC can be used to fabricate a number of miniature optical elements such as lenses, lens rasters, light guides and waveguides, etc.