Ultrafast laser induced cavitation bubbles in water in the presence of optical aberrations

When an ultrafast laser pulse is focused in water, non linear absorption mechanisms such as multiphotonic and avalanche ionizations may take place leading to the formation of a local transient electronic plasma. The subsequent energy relaxation eventually generates a localized cavitation bubble whose properties are directly linked to the coupled photonic energy [1] . This process of the so-called Laser induced-optical breakdown (LIOB) using femtosecond laser has gained interest due to many applications particularly in the biomedical fields [2] . LIOB depends on different parameters of the laser radiation, such as the pulse duration, laser polarization and pulse energy. There is a great interest in precisely tuning the laser energy with respect to the LIOB threshold, especially for ophtalmic surgeries assisted by femtosecond laser pulses, such as the LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis), FLACS (femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery) and more recently the FemtoMatrix [3] procedure that proposes a new paradigm for the cataract surgery, acheiving a full lens photoemulsification® with no phacoemulsifier.