Phase transition pathways of matter upon ablation with ultrashort laser pulses have been
considered to be understood long-since for metals and semiconductors. We provide
evidence that also certain dielectrics follow the same pathway, even at high pulse energies
triggering optical breakdown. Employing femtosecond microscopy, we observe a
characteristic ring pattern within the ablating region that dynamically changes for increasing
time delays between pump and probe pulse. These transient Newton rings are related to …