Near-field Ultrafast Nondiffractive Laser Nanoscale Cutting of Glass with Quasi-null Interface Roughness

Abstract

Generally, ultrafast laser glass dicing is governed by explosive material removal, which restricts the achievable surface roughness. Here we report single-step dicing of aluminosilicate glass with residual interface roughness below 5 nm, producing optical-quality surfaces without post-processing, using near-field-enhanced 0th-order Bessel-Gauss beams. This exceptional interface quality cannot be explained by a conventional laser ablation mechanism, such as phase explosion, melt expulsion, or fracture-dominated material removal. Instead, quantitative analysis of local thermal dynamics indicates that material removal is consistent with a Hertz-Knudsen-type evaporation process, enabling layer-by-layer removal with precision approaching a few molecular layers. These results suggest that nanoscale optical confinement fundamentally alters the response of transparent materials to ultrafast laser irradiation and establish a route toward deterministic laser processing with near-atomic precision.