Particularly in dielectric materials, the electrostatic instability, induced by the plasma, of the remaining lattice ions results in ejection of these ions and hence ablation of the material, leaving a material void in the laser focus region. Also, since the pulse duration and ablation time scales are much faster than the thermalization time, femtosecond laser micromachining does not suffer from the adverse effects of a heat-affected-zone, like cracking and melting in regions neighboring the intended damage region. See also Electronics Photonics Polariton Spintronics Polariton laser External references David W. Ward: Polaritonics: An Intermediate Regime between Electronics and Photonics, Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. This is the main reference for this article. External links The research group at MIT that invented polaritonics. References Photonics Nanoelectronics Solid state engineering