Bulk heating of transparent materials using a high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser

Femtosecond laser pulses can locally induce structural and chemical changes in the bulk of transparent materials, opening the door to the three-dimensional fabrication of optical devices. We review the laser and focusing parameters that have been applied to induce these changes and discuss the different physical mechanisms that play a role in forming them. We then describe a new technique for inducing refractive-index changes in bulk material using a high-repetition-rate femtosecond oscillator. The changes are caused by a localized melting of the material, which results from an accumulation of thermal energy due to nonlinear absorption of the high-repetition-rate train of laser pulses. Received: 21 November 2001 / Accepted: 9 July 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-858/534-7697, E-mail: cschaffer@ucsd.edu RID="**" ID="**"Current address: University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, La Jolla, CA 92 093, USA     

Influence of femtosecond laser marking on the corrosion resistance of stainless steels

Marking is of prime importance in the field of biomaterials to allow the identification of surgical tools as well as prostheses. Nowadays, marking is often achieved by means of laser beam, which may modify the characteristics of the treated surfaces. The use of laser devices delivering nanosecond pulses is known to induce dramatic corrosion degradations during sterilization or decontamination processes of the biomaterials. The aim of the present study is to investigate the ability of femtosecond (pulse duration in the 10⁻¹⁵ s range) laser treatments to avoid preferential corrosion processes of the marked areas, in order to extend the durability and the reliability of biomaterials. Experiments have been performed on martensitic Z30C13 and austenitic 316L stainless steels. Electrochemical measurements (cyclic polarization curves) were carried out to determine the passive state of samples before and after engraving, their corrosion rate and their susceptibility to localized corrosion. Further protracted immersion tests were also carried out to evaluate the natural long-term degradation of engraved parts. The electrochemical behavior is then explained on the basis of surface characterizations. Femtosecond laser marking is shown to provide an electrochemical ennoblement. Moreover, the chemical composition is not affected so that the passive character of both stainless steels is maintained, even improved if we consider the susceptibility to localized corrosion.     

Aesthetic laser marking assessment

In this paper, the CIE color difference formula was applied to evaluate four types of material surfaces; anodized aluminium, stainless steel, poly-butylene tetra-phthalate (PBT), and phenol formaldehyde, marked using a Nd:YAG laser, and viewed under three common modes of illumination; tungsten, fluorescent and daylight. The color difference values were based on the spectral reflectance readings obtained from a spectrophotometer. Each material exhibited different color difference trends in relation to marking speed for the different modes of illumination. Nevertheless, general comparisons could be made in terms of operational marking speeds and the maximal color difference values for each material.     

Luminescence bands in natural brown diamonds

We report on new luminescence bands exhibited by natural brown/mauve diamonds. We describe detailed absorption and luminescence measurements in the visible spectral region. The structured bands with ZPL at 2.424 eV, 2.114 eV, 1.819 eV and 1.707 eV, and a broad band with a maximum at 1.8 eV are shown to be the main components of the visible luminescence. Bands with ZPL at 2.114 eV, 1.819 eV and 1.707 eV are shown to correspond to forbidden transitions with lifetimes of the order of msec. Energy absorbed by the 2.424 eV centre is transferred into the 1.819 eV centre.     

On the possible origins of natural diamonds

A brief survey of the current theories of formation of diamonds in nature leads to the hypothesis which suggests the possibility of natural diamonds having formed metastably—a hypothesis which has not been enjoying much experimental support in its favour. The authors present briefly some aspects of the investigations which have resulted in demonstrating a new process whereby the dissolution and metastable autoepitaxial (re)crystallization of diamond occurs at atmospheric pressure. A comparison of certain reported growth characteristics of natural (terrestrial) and synthetic (high pressure, solvent-catalyst) diamonds with those of the metastable diamond overgrowths reveal many striking similarities. These results therefore serve as evidence to support the metastable origin hypothesis.     

Lithographical laser ablation using femtosecond laser

Lithographical laser ablation was demonstrated using a femtosecond laser with a lithographical optical system. In this method, a femtosecond laser beam passes through a mask and the pattern is imaged on a film by a coherent optical system. As a result, the film is lithographically ablated, and a micron-sized pattern can be generated in a single shot. The resolution of generation was 13 m, and the narrowest width of a generated line was about 4 m. Moreover, the system was applied to transmission gratings as masks, and nano-sized periodic structures such as nano-sized hole matrices and nano-meshes were generated in a single shot. PACS 52.38.Mf; 42.25.Hz; 42.82.Cr; 81.16.-c     

Etching-assisted femtosecond laser microfabrication

Although femtosecond laser microfabrication is one of the most promising three-dimensional(3D) fabrication techniques, it could suffer from low fabrication efficiency for structures with high 3D complexities. By using etching as a main assistant technique, the processing can be speeded up and an improved structure surface quality can be provided. However,the assistance of a single technique cannot satisfy the increasing demands of fabrication and integration of highly functional 3D microstructures. Therefore, a multi-technique-based 3D microfabrication method is required. In this paper, we briefly review the recent development on etching-assisted femtosecond laser microfabrication(EAFLM). Various processing approaches have been proposed to further strengthen the flexibilities of the EAFLM. With the use of the multi-technique-based microfabrication method, 3D microstructure arrays can be rapidly defined on planar or curved surfaces with high structure qualities.     

Superresolved femtosecond laser ablation

The determinist behavior of the femtosecond ablation process allows morphing features well under the diffraction limit by utilizing the thresholding effect, down to the nanometer scale. Because there are a vast range of applications where scaling down the size of the features is a major concern, we investigate the use of superresolving pupil plane filters. As is well known, these filters redistribute the focused optical intensity for a narrower bright spot and, as a trade-off, increase the sidelobes. However, this drawback can be rendered insignificant if all the outer optical power is kept under the determinist threshold value. Two types of pure absorbing binary filter have been tried, giving credence to a size reduction of the ablations in fused silica.     

Characterization of laser processing of single‐crystal natural diamonds using micro‐Raman spectroscopic investigations

The application of lasers for processing diamond has revolutionized the diamond industry and its applications in microelectronics, microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and microoptoelectromechanical system (MOEMS) technologies. The process quality can be evaluated using spectroscopic techniques. In the present investigation, four different types of Q‐switched solid‐state lasers (with different beam parameters), namely, a lamp‐pumped Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm, a lamp‐pumped Nd:YAG laser operating at second harmonically generated 532 nm, a diode‐pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser operating at 1064 nm and a diode‐pumped Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm, have been employed for the processing of a single‐crystal, gem‐quality, natural diamond. The main objective behind the selection of these lasers with different beam parameters was to study the effect of wavelength, pulse width, pulse energy, peak power and beam quality factor (M² factor) on various aspects of processing (such as microcracking, material loss and cut surface quality) and their relative merits and demerits. The overall weight loss of the diamond and formation of microcracks during processing have been studied for the above four cases. The characteristics of the graphite formed during processing, elemental analysis, surface morphology of the cut surface and process dynamics have been studied using micro‐Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We observed that laser cutting of single‐crystal diamonds used for industrial applications can be accomplished without microcracking or surface distortion using Q‐switched Nd:YAG lasers. This allows direct processing without extensive postgrinding and polishing stages. Very efficient diamond processing is possible using diode‐pumped lasers, which results in the lowest possible breakage rate, good accuracy, good surface finish and low weight loss. From the micro‐Raman and SEM studies, it is concluded that the surface quality obtained is superior when diode‐pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser is used, owing to its extremely high peak power. The maximum graphite content is observed while processing with lamp‐pumped Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. An overall comparison of all the laser sources leads to the conclusion that diode‐pumped Nd:YAG laser is a superior option for the efficient processing of natural diamond crystals. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

X-ray computer tomography of natural fibrous diamonds and ballas

The results of investigation of natural fibrous diamonds by laboratory X-ray computer tomography using monochromatic radiation are presented. The existence of numerous heterophase microinclusions in fibrous crystals is established. Spatial distribution of inclusions can be connected both with morphological features of crystals, and with growth conditions. It is established that the ballas practically does not contain inclusions of extraneous phases.     

Vortices in femtosecond laser fields

We experimentally generate optical vortices in the output beam of a 20-fs Ti:sapphire laser. Screw phase dislocations are imposed on the spectral components of the short pulses by aligning a computer-generated hologram in a dispersionless 4f setup.     

Titanium micromachining by femtosecond laser

The ultimate goal of this research was to characterize the ablation depth with respect to pulse energy, translation speed, and consecutive passes in order to obtain the parameters to have smooth microchannel surfaces. A logarithmic dependence of the channel depth on the laser pulse energy was observed with two different distinct ablation regimes. Although the same fluence values were used with two different lens sizes, the slopes of these ablation regimes were quite different. 100 mm lens has a small optical penetration length with steeper ablation slope in the first regime, whereas the 15 mm lens has the opposite. In the second part of the ablation regime, the slope was lower for 100 mm lens as compared to 15 mm lens. Furthermore, spike formation has been seen in 100 mm lens study at 0.308, 0.370, 0.431, and 0.493 J/cm² fluence values yet no spike formations have been seen in 15 mm lens study.     

Multiple filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses

The formation of fluorescent channels with color centers in LiF crystals under the action of the multiple filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses is studied experimentally and theoretically for pulse powers around four orders of magnitude higher than the critical self-focusing value.     

Aesthetic laser marking assessment using luminance ratios

In this paper, a luminous ratio was applied to evaluate four types of material surfaces; anodized aluminium, stainless steel, poly-butylene tetra-phthalate (PBT), and phenol formaldehyde, marked using a Nd:YAG laser. The luminous ratio was based on the spectral reflectance readings obtained from a spectrophotometer and computed for the case of scotopic (low illumination) and photopic (normal illumination) viewing. The method of using luminous ratios was able to produce quantitative results that determined visibility differences under photopic and scotopic viewing for stainless steel and phenol formaldehyde. The method revealed optimal marking speeds for all the materials studied; with the optimal speed found to be highest for PBT and lowest for stainless steel. By comparing the absolute luminous ratio differences at the respective optimal marking speeds, the method also revealed that markings on phenol formaldehyde and anodized aluminium had the highest and lowest visibility, respectively.     

飞秒激光烧蚀硅表面产生微纳结构过程中激光脉冲数目的影响

为了研究飞秒激光脉冲数目与硅表面形貌之间的关系,在相同的SF6气体氛围下,改变照射硅表面的飞秒激光脉冲数,发现在飞秒激光照射下由硅表面形成的微型锥状尖峰的高度与飞秒激光脉冲数呈现一种非线性关系.通过对该关系的研究有利于找出在制造具有较高吸收效率的高微型锥状尖峰的"黑硅"的实验条件,有利于基于"黑硅"材料的光电器件转化效...     

飞秒抽运随机激光输出波形的可控性研究

本文基于随机激光的时域理论,研究了飞秒脉冲抽运下二维随机激光的辐射特性,并着重讨论了抽运脉冲的峰值强度、脉宽和脉冲波形对辐射光时域波形的影响.结果表明, 辐射光的时域波形强烈依赖于抽运光脉冲的参数,通过调整抽运方式可以控制辐射光的输出波形.数值模拟结果为研究随机激光输出波形的可控性技术提供了理论依据. 关键词： 激光物理 随机激光器 飞秒抽运 脉冲波形