Comparing study of subpicosecond and nanosecond wet etching of fused silica

The effectiveness of the laser induced backside wet etching (LIBWE) of fused silica produced by subpicosecond (600 fs) and nanosecond (30 ns) KrF excimer laser pulses (248 nm) was studied. Fused silica plates were the transparent targets, and naphthalene-methyl-methacrylate (c = 0.85, 1.71 M) and pyrene-acetone (c = 0.4 M) solutions were used as liquid absorbents. We did not observe etching using 600 fs laser pulses, in contrast with the experiments at 30 ns, where etched holes were found. The threshold fluences of the LIBWE at nanosecond pulses were found to be in the range of 360-450 mJ cm⁻² depending on the liquid absorbers and their concentrations. On the basis of the earlier results the LIBWE procedure can be explain by the thermal heating of the quartz target and the high-pressure bubble formation in the liquid. According to the theories, these bubbles hit and damage the fused silica surface. The pressure on the irradiated quartz can be derived from the snapshots of the originating and expanding bubbles recorded by fast photographic setup. We found that the bubble pressure at 460 mJ cm⁻² fluence value was independent of the pulse duration (600 fs and 30 ns) using pyrene-acetone solution, while using naphthalene-methyl-methacrylate solutions this pressure was 4, 5 times higher at 30 ns pulses than it was at 600 fs pulses. According to the earlier studies, this result refers to that the pressure should be sufficiently high to remove a thin layer from the quartz surface using pyrene-acetone solution. These facts show that the thermal and chemical phenomena in addition to the mechanical effects also play important role in the LIBWE procedure.     

激光聚焦位置对K9光学玻璃损伤的影响

 利用脉宽为10 ns、波长为1 064 nm的激光脉冲聚焦通过K9玻璃的方法,研究了玻璃的损伤形貌与高强度纳秒激光脉冲聚焦位置的关系。当激光脉冲聚焦在样品中心时,吸收能量随着入射能量的增加呈线性增长,玻璃的破坏范围不断扩大;当激光脉冲聚焦在样品表面时,吸收能量随着入射能量的增加呈先增长而后减小最终趋于平稳,玻璃表面的破坏范围也是先增大而后减小趋于平稳,这主要是由于空气被击穿而吸收大量能量引起的。     

Pulsed laser damage of proustite

Pulsed laser damage thresholds have been measured for proustite (Ag₃ As S₃) as the wavelengths 0.694, 1.065, 1.32 and 10.6 μm. The damage thresholds have been found to vary with both the wavelength and duration of the irradiating pulse. At 1.065 μm damage thresholds are 0.38 J/cm² for pulses of duration <50 ns whilst for durations >50 ns a value of 7 MW/cm² is appropriate. The results suggest that damage is initiated by absorbing inclusions approximately 0.6 μm in diameter embedded within the crystals. These inclusions are heated by an incident pulse to cause catastrophic damage of both the surface and interior of an irradiated sample. A model has been developed to enable a study of the thermal behaviour of inclusions irradiated by laser pulses with Gaussian time-dependence to be made.     

高强度纳秒激光与K9光学玻璃体损伤的实验研究

通过把脉宽为lOns、波长为1064nm的激光脉冲聚焦通过K9玻璃的方法,研究了玻璃的损伤形貌特点与高强度纳秒激光脉冲的关系。当激光脉？中聚焦在样品中心时,产生的破坏点的特点为前端大,后端小,并且纵向出现裂纹,使用高强度激光与物质相互作用时产生的激光支持的爆轰波特点解释了这些破坏特点。当激光脉冲聚焦在样品表面时,产生的破坏特点是串状的,即带有点状破坏的丝状破坏,这是由于内部缺陷或颗粒和动态自聚焦作用的结果。     

Influence of pulse duration on the doping quality in laser chemical processing (LCP)—a simulative approach

The laser chemical processing (LCP) technique for the local doping of crystalline silicon solar cells is investigated. Here, a liquid jet containing a dopant source acts as a waveguide for pulsed laser light, which results in the melting and subsequent doping of the silicon surface. Typical LCP pulse durations are in the 15 ns range, giving satisfactory results for specific parameter settings. While great potential is assumed to exist, optimization of the pulse duration has until now not been deeply investigated, because it is hard to change this parameter in laser systems. Therefore, this paper accesses the influence of the pulse duration by a simulative approach. The model includes optics, thermodynamics, and melt dynamics induced by the liquid jet and dopant diffusion into the silicon melt. It is solved by coupling our existing finite differences Matlab-code LCPSim with the commercial fluid flow solver Ansys Fluent. Simulations of axial symmetric single pulses were performed for pulse durations ranging from 15 ns to 500 ns. Detailed results are given, which show that for longer pulse durations lateral heat conduction significantly homogenizes the inhomogeneous dopant distribution caused by the speckled intensity profile within the liquid jet cross section. The melt expulsion by the liquid jet is low enough that a sufficiently doped layer remains after full resolidification for all pulse durations. Last, temperature gradients are evaluated to give an indication on the amount of laser damage induced by thermal stress.     

Laser induced thermal desorption of carbon monoxide from Fe(110) surfaces

Thermal desorption of CO is induced by bombarding an Fe(110) surface with pulses of a neodymium glass laser. The maximum amplitude of the desorption signal is recorded by a mass spectrometer as a function of the laser pulse intensity and of the CO coverage for both single pulses and sequences of pulses. Since the half width of the laser pulses is only 30 ns the shape of the desorption signal is mainly determined by the time-of-flight of the desorbed particles. There is strong evidence that the latter obey a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of temperature T_d, identical in the low temperature range with the maximum surface temperature T_s. Above T_s = 600 K, however, T_d is smaller than T_s. The experimental observations are analyzed successfully with the first order rate equation for desorption.     

光学材料的多脉冲激光损伤研究

研究了ＺＦ２玻璃多脉冲与单脉冲激光损伤，分析了多脉冲损伤阈值与脉冲数，脉冲间隔的关系，进行了多脉冲损伤机理的分析，得出多脉冲损伤是热和缺陷累积共同作用最终促成雪崩击穿的结果，并提出了提高抗多脉冲激光损伤的方法。     

基频和三倍频Nd:YAG激光诱导熔石英损伤特性

 采用光电探测器和数字示波器检测散射光脉冲信号,研究了基频和三倍频Nd:YAG激光诱导熔石英损伤过程,给出了泵浦光和探针光的散射光光电信号;比较了基频和三倍频激光作用下熔石英烧蚀斑显微照片,并分析了其损伤机理。结果显示:在ns脉冲激光作用下,熔石英损伤均发生在泵浦激光脉冲峰值附近,且基频光作用下损伤开始时间点比三倍频作用下早;在多脉冲或高能量激光辐照下,检测到了等离子体闪光信号,等离子体闪光发生在时间延迟21 ns附近。基于Keldysh理论计算了基频光和三倍频光作用下,熔石英光致电离速率同激光强度的关系。     

Ultrashort laser pulse bioeffects and safety.

Recent studies of retinal damage due to ultrashort laser pulses have shown that less energy is required for retinal damage for pulses shorter than 1 ns than that for longer pulses. It has also been shown that more energy is required for near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths than in the visible because the light focuses behind the retina, requiring more energy to produce a damaging fluence on the retina. We review the progress made in determining the trends in retinal damage from laser pulses of 1 ns to 100 fs in the visible and NIR wavelength regimes. We have determined the most likely damage mechanism(s) operative in this pulse width regime.     

Pulse-width influence on the laser-induced structuring of CaF2 (111)

We have investigated the morphology of CaF₂ (111) irradiated by 780 nm laser pulses of varying pulse width (200 fs-8 ns) with fluences above the damage threshold. Large differences can be observed which we relate to the mechanisms and dynamics of defect production in this wide band gap material. The best defined and most controllable ablation is obtained for laser pulse widths of a few picoseconds. For nanosecond and femtosecond pulses strong fracturing of the crystal is observed with damage outside the laser irradiated zone. This has a thermal origin for nanosecond pulses but a non-thermal origin for pulse widths below approximately 1 ps.     

多脉冲激光对K9玻璃的表面损伤实验研究

 实验研究了波长为1 064 nm、脉宽为10 ns、重复频率为1 Hz的激光脉冲对K9玻璃的表面损伤特点,给出了脉冲透过能量随激光脉冲作用次数变化的规律。采用3维立体显微镜对损伤形貌进行观察,发现K9玻璃的损伤表面呈环状分布,分为烧蚀区、微裂纹区和断裂区。随着激光脉冲个数的增加,损伤由点状破坏演变为损伤区,微裂纹逐渐增长,损伤面积逐渐增大。基于激光支持的爆轰波理论分析,激光与脆性材料的相互作用可引起微裂纹的大量增长。在多脉冲激光的作用下,K9玻璃损伤的累积效应明显,表面损伤阈值明显降低,表面裂纹增长明显,损伤面积逐渐增大;但随着激光脉冲的继续增加,这种损伤趋于稳定。     

Surface damage morphology investigations of silicon under millisecond laser irradiation

The surface damage morphologies of single crystal silicon induced by 1064 nm millisecond Nd:YAG laser are investigated. After irradiation, the damage morphologies of silicon are inspected by optical microscope (OM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The plasma emission spectra of the damaged region are detected by the spectrometer. It is shown that surface oxidation and nitridation have occurred during the interaction of millisecond laser with silicon. In addition, the damage morphologies induced by 2 ms and 10 ns pulse width laser are compared. The damage morphology obtained by 2 ms laser is an evident crater. Three types of damage morphologies are formed at different laser energy densities. The circular concentric ripples are found surrounding the rim of the crater. The spacing of the ripples is 15 ± 5 μm. Two types of cracks are observed: linear crack and circular crack. The linear crack is observed in the center of the damaged region which propagates to the periphery of the damaged region. The circular crack is located at the rim of the crater. The damage morphology induced by 10 ns laser is surface layer damage. The periodic linear waves are generated due to the interference between the incident beam and the scattered beam. The spacing of the ripples is 1.54 μm which is close to the incident laser wavelength 1.064 μm. The linear crack is located at the center of the damaged region. Furthermore, for the same laser energy density, the dimension of the damaged region and the crater depth induced by 2 ms laser are greater than that of 10 ns laser. It indicates that the damage mechanism under millisecond pulse laser irradiation is strongly different from the case of nanosecond pulse laser.     

脉宽对中红外激光带内损伤HgCdTe材料的影响

研究了脉宽对于中红外脉冲激光带内损伤碲镉汞（HgCdTe）材料阈值的影响,使用一维自洽模型对激光辐照HgCdTe材料程中的载流子数密度,载流子对数目流,载流子对能流,载流子温度和材料晶格温度等相关参数进行仿真计算。仿真结果表明,波长2.85 μm,脉宽30 ps～10 ns单脉冲激光带内辐照HgCdTe材料的损伤阈值为200～500 mJ/cm2。其中,300 ps～3 ns脉冲激光的损伤阈值相近,均为200 mJ/cm2且低于其他脉宽激光的损伤阈值。搭建实验光路并进行相关实验验证仿真模型的正确性。实验发现,波长2.85 μm、脉宽300 ps的单脉冲激光带内辐照HgCdTe材料的损伤阈值在200 mJ/cm2左右。相同条件下,10 ns单脉冲激光带内辐照HgCdTe材料的损伤阈值约474 mJ/cm2。百皮秒脉冲激光对HgCdTe材料的损伤过程结合了热击穿和光学击穿效应,其独特的毁伤机理加剧了材料的损伤。     

2ns大口径高功率激光对光学玻璃材料破坏研究

报道了应用诺曼斯基（Ｎｏｍａｒｓｋｉ）偏振光干涉仪测量Ｋ８玻璃和掺钕硅酸盐玻璃材料在高功率大口径激光照射后坏阈值，并分析了破坏机理，发现在纳秒脉冲激光作用下，破坏的主要机制是受激布里渊散射激发声波引起的材料破坏。     

硅光电二极管激光损伤阈值随激光脉宽的变化

 对飞秒激光辐照下硅光电二极管损伤阈值进行了实验测量，对从1s到60fs不同脉宽激光辐照下硅光电二极管损伤阈值进行了讨论。实验数据表明，在1s到10ns脉宽范围内损伤所需能量密度近似而非严格地与脉宽的平方根成正比。信号分析表明硅光电二极管的损伤主要由热效应造成，而60fs激光辐照下的损伤阈值为0.1J/cm2，明显偏离普通温度分布预言的趋势。     

Double-pulse LIBS of gadolinium oxide ablated by femto- and nano-second laser pulses

Emission characteristics of gadolinium (Gd) oxide are studied, using ns and fs laser pulses for ablation in double-pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In the current conditions of pulse energy and signal detection timing, emission intensity enhancement in the reheating mode is 25-fold, but little effect can be observed in a pre-pulse mode. It is shown that the optimum focus position of the ablation pulse is about 5 mm apart from the sample surface in the reheating mode. Although little emission can be observed in the single-pulse configuration with fs ablation pulses, the intense emission can be observed in the reheating mode in the double-pulse configuration.     

Two-color laser desorption of nanostructured MgO thin films

Neutral magnesium atom emission from nanostructured MgO thin films is induced using two-color nanosecond laser excitation. We find that combined vis/UV excitation, for single-color pulse energies below the desorption threshold, induces neutral Mg-atom emission with hyperthermal kinetic energies in the range of 0.1-0.2 eV. The observed metal atom emission is consistent with a mechanism involving rapid electron transfer to three-coordinated Mg surface sites. The two-color Mg-atom signal is significant only for parallel laser polarizations and temporally overlapped laser pulses indicating that intermediate excited states are short-lived compared to the 5 ns laser pulse duration.     

Thermal description of laser annealing

Heating and cooling rates as well as melting and solidification velocity of surface layers of irradiated samples by laser pulses are semi-quantitatively described in terms of heat flow concepts based on the assumption that laser light is directly converted in lattice heating. The range of validity of this approach compared with a more complete scheme taking into account the free carrier plasma evolution is sketched and the importance of Auger effect in the plasma-lattice coupling mechanism is detailed. The most important consequences of the quencing rates achievable by short laser pulse irradiation on the structure modification of semiconductor surface layers are reviewed with more details on the liquid to amorphous silicon transition. This is in fact the more new and less understood fast solidification process induced by pulsed laser irradiation.     

多脉冲激光作用下光学薄膜损伤的累积效应

研究了高反射膜在多脉冲激光作用下损伤的累积效应.实验中使用1064nm调Q的Nd∶YAG激光器,脉宽是12 ns,频率为10 Hz.实验发现:高反射膜的损伤阈值随辐照脉冲数增加而降低,表现出明显的累积效应.通过对损伤阈值和损伤概率以及辐照次数的统计性研究,并结合单脉冲辐照的结果,说明了存在于薄膜中微小的缺陷参与了多脉冲激光对薄膜的损伤过程,得到了制备IBS高反射膜的损伤阈值和照射次数的关系式,用Nomarski偏光显微镜观察了实验过程中样品的损伤形貌,发现是典型的缺陷损伤.     

Experimental and numerical study of surface alloying by femtosecond laser radiation

Here we report on experimental studies of femtosecond laser induced surface metal alloying. We demonstrate that layers of different metals can be mixed in a certain range of laser pulse energies. Numeric simulations demonstrate that the sub-surface melting and mixing is advantaged through the difference in the electron-phonon coupling constants of the metals in the multi-layer system. Dependence of the depth of the mixed layer on the number of laser pulses per unit area is studied. Numeric simulations illustrate physical picture of the laser alloying process.