Juodkazis, SauliusMisawa, HiroakiHashimoto, TomohiroGamaly, Eugene GLuther-Davies, Barry2015-12-212015-12-210003-6951http://hdl.handle.net/1885/95137We report on the nanovoid formation inside synthetic silica, viosil, by single femtosecond pulses of 30–100nJ energy, 800nm wavelength, and 180fs duration. It is demonstrated that the void is formed as a result of shock and rarefaction waves at pulse power much lower than the threshold of self-focusing. The shock-compressed region around the nanovoid is demonstrated to have higher chemical reactivity. This was used to reveal the extent of the shock-compressed region by wet etching. Application potential of nanostructuring of dielectrics is discussed.http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0003-6951..."Publishers version/PDF may be used on author's personal website, institutional website or institutional repository" from SHERPA/RoMEO site (as at 21/12/15). Copyright 2006 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2204847Keywords: Chemical reactions; Dielectric materials; Etching; Nanostructured materials; Shock waves; Laser-induced microexplosion; Nanovoids; Synthetic silica; Silica2006-05-1610.1063/1.22048472016-02-24