Observing laser nanostructuring

Researchers at the Laboratoire Hubert Curien, St. Etienne and Max-Born Institute in Berlin have developed a multiscale imaging method to observe matter relaxation dynamics and the formation of nanoscale structures in ultrafast laser irradiated fused silica using non-diffractive beams. This allows to control ultrafast laser microexplosions in bulk materials associated with extreme conditions at mesoscopic scales, being essential to the synthesis of extraordinary matter structural phases and to light structuring beyond the diffraction limit. The report appeared in Optica (https://www.osapublishing.org/optica/abstract.cfm?uri=optica-4-8-951) puts forward a dynamic view that helps understanding material transformation under confinement.