Dielectrics in intense laser fields

David M. Rayner 
Attosecond Science Program 
Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences 
National Research Council of Canada 
100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada 

When modest (~100 nJ) femtosecond laser pulses are focused inside transparent material 
the field at the focus can easily exceed 10^10 V/m. The result is material breakdown and plasma 
formation followed by local reconstruction of the material that can include the production of 
self-assembled nanostructures. Technologically, this is important from perspectives of laser 
damage and photonics fabrication. From a scientific point of view many observations challenge 
established concepts of laser material interactions established using nanosecond and 
picosecond lasers. The talk will discuss how the ideas of intense field ionization of atoms 
and molecules extend to bulk systems and will introduce concepts that include cold 
avalanche ionization, transient nano-plasmonics, memory and multiphoton crystallography.