Ultrafast laser assisted fabrication of ZnO nanorod arrays for photon detection applications

Orderly aligned ZnO nanorod arrays were grown by the ultrafast laser assisted ablation deposition method. These nanorod arrays were further used to make efficient p-n heterojunction photodetector arrays, which have the potential to have nanoscale spatial resolution for imaging, unique incident polarization discrimination capability, and much improved quantum efficiency as well as detection sensitivity. Both front- and back-illumination photodetection schemes were demonstrated by growing those ZnO nanorod arrays on p-type silicon and p-type Zn_0.9Mg_0.1O-coated Al₂O₃ (0 0 0 1) substrates, respectively. Typical diode rectification behavior and photosensitivity were observed in both designs through I-V and photocurrent measurements.     

表面液晶-垂直腔面发射激光器阵列的热特性

液晶与垂直腔面发射半导体激光器(VCSELs)阵列结合可实现波长可调谐、偏振精确控制等,同时液晶的引入也会改变垂直腔面发射半导体激光器阵列的热特性,本文设计了表面液晶-垂直腔面发射激光器阵列结构,并开展了阵列的热特性实验研究.对比分析了向列相液晶层对VCSEL阵列热特性的影响,实验结果表明,1×1,2×2,3×3三种表面液晶-VCSEL阵列的阈值电流温度变化率最高可降低23.6%,热阻降低26.75%;同时,激光器阵列各发光单元之间的温度均匀性显著提高,出光孔与周围温差小于0.5℃.综上所述,VCSEL阵列中液晶层的引入不仅大大加速激光器阵列单元热量扩散,而且降低了有源区结温,提高了VCSELs激光器阵列热特性,为实现高光束质量的单偏振波长可控VCSEL激光器阵列打下了良好的理论和实验基础.     

An optimal process of femtosecond laser cutting of NiTi shape memory alloy for fabrication of miniature devices

The mechanical properties of NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) components are sensitive to thermal influence during laser machining. To make the femtosecond laser cutting of NiTi material meet the strict fabrication requirements for miniature SMA devices with high precision, complex patterns and minimal heat affected zone (HAZ) along with high throughput, we report an optimal process of sideways-movement path planning in this article. Femtosecond laser processing of NiTi SMA using the fundamental wavelength of 775 nm from a Ti:sapphire laser along with its second and third harmonic irradiations were systematically investigated. We observed that the main impact of ultrashort laser pulse induced air breakdown on materials processing was beam widening. The laser beam at fundamental wavelength suffered less widening than its harmonic wavelengths. Femtosecond laser machining of metals is still basically a thermal mechanism. High ablation rates at higher laser fluences causes significant recast formation, while lower fluences resulted in better cutting quality at the expense of efficiency. The optimal process involving the method of sideways-movement path planning enables recast-free high-precision features at higher laser fluences with better throughput.     

流体直接冷却薄板条介质温度及应力的解析表达

基于对流传热和热传导原理, 建立了流体直接冷却均匀抽运薄板条激光工作介质的热效应分析模型, 采用平面应力近似和最小功原理, 得到了板条工作介质内部温度分布和应力分布的解析表达式. 研究了不同流道厚度时对流热交换系数和冷却液温升与流体流速的关系, 分析了流道厚度对工作介质的温度分布和应力分布的影响规律, 讨论了之字形和直通光路时, 热致波前畸变随产热功率的变化趋势. 结果表明: 层流和湍流时, 较厚的流道可以实现更好的热管理效率; 增益介质中的热分布关于中心平面对称, 纵向最大温升出现在出水口端, 最大应力畸变集中在板条两端及其侧边; 流道厚度较大时, 工作介质更易形成一维的温度梯度, 产生的应力更小; 之字形光路可以明显缓解热光效应导致的波前畸变.     

Embedded dots inside glass for optical film using UV laser of ultrafast laser pulse

Microstructures are usually fabricated on the surface of optical sheets to improve the optical characteristics. In this study, a new fabrication process with UV (ultraviolet) laser direct writing method is developed to embed microstructures inside the glass. Then the optical properties of glass such as reflection and refraction indexes can be modified. Single- and multi-layer microstructures are designed and embedded inside glass substrate to modify the optical characteristics. Both luminance and uniformity can be controlled with the embedded microstructures. Thus, the glass with inside pattern can be used as a light guide plate to increase optical performance. First, an optical commercial software, FRED, is applied to design the microstructure configuration. Then, UV laser direct writing with output power 2.5-2.6 W, repetition rate 30 kHz, wave length: 355 nm, and pulse duration 15 ns is used to fabricate the microstructures inside the glass. The effect of dot pattern in the glass such as the dot pitch, the layer gap, and the number of layer on the optical performance is discussed. Machining capacity of UV laser ranges from micron to submicrometer; hence with this ultrafast laser pulse, objectives of various dimensions such as dot, line width, and layers can be easily embedded in the glass by one simple process. In addition, the embedded microstructures can be made with less contamination. Finally, the optical performance of the glasses with various configurations is measured using a Spectra Colorometer (Photo Research PR650) and compared with the simulated results.     

Efficient fabrication of substrates for surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry using laser ablation in liquids

Substrates for the surface-assisted laser desorption ionization (SALDI) technique were prepared using electrophoresis of gold nanoparticles produced by laser ablation in liquids. Throughout the preparation, no supplemental reagent was added for the stabilization and deposition of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles were deposited more uniformly using the electrophoresis technique than using dropping of the solution. Results demonstrated that the higher uniformity of the deposition of nanoparticles improved the reproducibility of SALDI measurements. Furthermore, the thickness of the deposited nanoparticles influences the SALDI efficiency.     

Controlled process for polymer micromachining using designed pulse trains of a UV solid state laser

A flexible workstation equipped with a solid state laser operating at 266 nm wavelength was used to machine holes in polyethylene terephthalate, polyimide and polycarbonate. An optical pulse picker was employed to reduce the high repetition rates of the laser, while a breakthrough sensor was used to avoid over-drilling of through holes. For each material, different repetition rates and designed pulse trains were tested to improve feature quality and process efficiency. Although the three polymers had very different reactions at this wavelength they all showed an improvement in feature quality with decreasing repetition rate due to a reduction in thermal effects. Up to 10 kHz the average depth per pulse remained unchanged and afterwards a slight increase was observed but this was accompanied by large uncertainties. Bursts of pulses at 40 kHz inserted inside the low repetition rate pulse train reduced the drilling time and the amount of debris redeposited without affecting the feature quality. It was found that a number of cleaning pulses after perforation eliminates the heat affected zone around exits. Holes with entrance diameters below 20 μm and exit diameters as small as 2 μm were obtained with high repeatability.     

基于液晶/聚合物光栅的高转化效率有机半导体激光器

采用有机半导体发光材料聚[2-甲氧基-5-(2-乙基己氧基)-1,4-苯乙炔]作为增益介质,低官能度光敏单体制备的液晶/聚合物光栅作为外部反馈谐振腔,制备出参数可独立控制的分离式结构的有机半导体激光器.液晶/聚合物光栅中液晶分子的取向影响光栅折射率调制量,从而影响光栅的反馈能力,最终影响激光器出射激光的性能.通过研究发现决定液晶分子取向的主要有两种与光栅周期有关的作用力,利用这一原理制备不同周期的光栅,光栅周期小于450 nm时,相分离出的液晶分子取向由光栅矢量方向变为光栅沟槽方向,此时光栅的折射率调制量增加,光反馈能力增强.采用周期为395 nm的液晶/聚合物光栅制备二级布拉格散射的有机半导体激光器,相较于大周期光栅(593 nm)制备的激光器,激光阈值由0.70μJ/pulse降低至0.18μJ/pulse,转化效率由2.5%提高到6.4%,且出射激光垂直于基板表面发射,有利于后续的处理及应用.     

Design and fabrication of an optimum holographic optical element lens for a femtosecond laser pulse using a hologram computer-aided design tool

Design and fabrication of an optimum holographic optical element (HOE) lens for a femtosecond laser pulse using a hologram computer-aided design (CAD) tool is presented. The hologram CAD tool, which the authors have developed can design, analyze, and evaluate holograms fabricated by interferometrical technique. The function of the tool is extended to design and analyze a HOE lens illuminated with a femtosecond laser pulse. An optimum HOE lens for a laser pulse, which has 130 fs duration, 720 nm central wavelength, and 10 nm spectrum bandwidth, is designed by the tool. The optimum HOE lens gives both high diffraction efficiency and small amount of aberration. The designed HOE lens is fabricated and its optical characteristics have been experimentally evaluated. The reconstructed point images agree with the results of the numerical simulations by the tool. The tool demonstrates the capability of designing the optimum HOE lens for a femtosecond laser pulse.