The role of avalanche ionization in generation of defects in lithium fluoride crystals under the action of femtosecond laser pulses

The paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical studies of the role of avalanche ionization in the process of highly nonlinear generation of electron-hole pairs in the interaction of intense femtosecond laser radiation with dosimetric crystals LiF:Mg,Ti. We assume that the effective formation of defects of hole-interstitial type, which consist of molecular halogen ions placed in one cationic and two anionic vacancies, distinguished by high-temperature peaks in the thermally stimulated luminescence curves, is feasibly connected with avalanche ionization processes occurring in the regions of passage of light filaments. The calculated dependences of the plasma density on time during the laser pulse made with taking into account the avalanche ionization for this type of crystals show that the contribution of avalanche ionization to the electron-hole plasma density is comparable to that of the multiphoton tunneling mechanism.