Laser-induced breakdown measurements of silica nanofibers in air and immersed in water, ethanol and isopropanol

In this paper we present the first study to our knowledge of Laser-Induced Breakdown (LIB) measurements of silica nanofibers in air and in three liquids for different radii in the ns regime. The experimental protocol is described. A significant number of samples are tested and the results are highly repeatable. We showed that immerging a nanofiber in a liquid substantially enhanced the LIB, the most salient increase having been obtained for nanofibers immersed in water for which the LIB has been almost multiplied by a factor of 2 compared with air. This property offers a new degree of freedom to widen the field of applications of nanofibers, where high peaks powers are needed.