Femtosecond laser-induced color change and filamentation in Ag⁺-doped silicate glass

We investigate the influence of multiple filamentation (MF) on the micromachining in Ag₊-doped silicate glass irradiated by a 1-kHz femtosecond laser. The thresholds of MF and color change (CC) are measured for both linearly and circularly polarized laser beams. The results demonstrate that the thresholds of MF and CC are very close. The thresholds of CC and MF for circular polarization increase by ~1.4 times compared with linear polarization. Circular polarization can suppress the number of filaments to some extent compared with linear polarization. However, it is difficult to obtain CC without any filamentation if circular polarization technique is used alone.