<title>Multiphoton-absorption-induced structural changes in fused silica</title>

The basic properties (light refractive index, density, mechanical strength, etc.) of fused silica are changed by the influence of high-intensity light from the glass transparency region capable of generating excitons by multiphoton absorption. The self-trapped exciton decay near the microcavity in the fused silica structure leads to the stable elementary intrinsic defect pair (nonbridging oxygen atom and three-fold-coordinated silicon atom) generation. At the large- enough light intensities near such a microcavity with a defect, the next exciton can be self- trapped. Then the next elementary defect can appear in the microcavity, and a chemical bond between it and the previously generated de…