Laser writing enables practical flat optics and data storage in glass
(PHYSorg.com Physics)

Femtosecond laser machining has emerged as an attractive technology enabling applications ranging from eye surgery to direct writing on the bulk of transparent materials. Scientists from the University of Southampton, UK, demonstrated a new regime of ultrafast laser writing in silica glass, which produces anisotropic nanostructures and related birefrigence with negligible transmission loss. The technology enables practical wavefront shaping with flat optics and polarization beam shaping of high power lasers from ultraviolet to infrared, as well as high-capacity optical data storage.