Pulse energy scaling of femtosecond laser-generated stress waves inside fused silica

Femtosecond laser-generated stress waves play a crucial role in processing transparent materials. However, their dependence on laser pulse energy, a key processing parameter, remains unclear. To investigate this, we employ a pump-probe microscope-polariscope with in situ laser intensity imaging, complemented by multiphysics-multiscale numerical simulations. Our study examines single-shot irradiation inside fused silica using 360-fs, 1030-nm laser pulses with energies ranging from 250 nJ to several μJ. We observe a logarithmic scaling of the principal stress difference, governed by peak intensity clamping, in quantitative agreement with simulations.