Sub-micron ablation of metallic thin film by femtosecond pulse laser

The ability to machine very small features in a material has a wide range of applications in industry. We ablated holes into thin film of 100 nm thickness made from various metals by femtosecond pulsed laser ablation. Using a Ti:Sapphire laser which supplies a laser pulse of 150 fs duration at central spectrum wavelength of 400 nm, we have produced a series sub-micron holes, whose diameters are less than 200 nm with a focused laser spot of 1.7 μm. We found that the material damage threshold has a great influence on the quality of the produced features. Experimental results shows that the heat-affected zone and the degree of being affected reduce with the increase of threshold value.     

Superhydrophobicity of polytetrafluoroethylene thin film fabricated by pulsed laser deposition

Superhydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) thin films were obtained by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique carried out with KrF excimer laser (λ = 248 nm) of about 1 J/cm² at a pressure of 1.33 Pa. The samples exhibit high water contact angle of about 170° and the sliding angle smaller than 2°. From studying the surface morphology of the prepared films, it is believed that the nano-scale surface roughness has enhanced the hydrophobic property of the PTFE. The increase of trapping air and reducing liquid-solid contact area due to the rough surface, as suggested by the Cassie-Baxter's model, should be responsible for superhydrophobicity of the PLD prepared films. This study thus provides a convenient one-step method without using wet-process to produce a superhydrophobic surface with good self-cleaning properties.     

Characterization of gadolinium oxide film by pulse laser deposition

In this work, Gd-oxide dielectric films were deposited on Si by pulse laser deposition method (PLD), moreover, the micro-structures and electrical properties were reported. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that Gd-oxide was polycrystalline Gd₂O₃ structure, and no Gd metal phase was detected. In addition, both interface at Si and Ni fully silicide (FUSI) gate were smooth without the formation of Si-oxide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the formation of Gd₂O₃ and gave an atom ratio of 1:1 for Gd:O, indicating O vacancies existed in Gd₂O₃ polycrystal matrix even at O₂ partial pressure of 20 mTorr. Electrical measurements indicated that the dielectric constant of Gd-oxide film was 6 and the leakage current was 0.1 A/cm² at gate bias of 1 V.     

T-shaped gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs fabricated by femtosecond laser lithography without ablation

Femtosecond laser as a maskless lithography technique is able to fabricate structures far smaller than the diffraction limit to a value within sub-micrometer resolution. We present the femtosecond laser lithography without ablation on the positive photoresist is applied in fabricating T-shaped gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT. The feature sizes of femtosecond laser lithography were determined by the incident laser power, the scan speed of the laser focus, the number of scan times, and the substrate materials. T-shaped gate with the smallest gate length 204?nm could be fabricated by dielectric-defined process using femtosecond laser lithography. The fabricated AlGaN/GaN HEMT with 380?nm T-gate exhibits a maximum drain current density of 500?mA/mm and a maximum peak extrinsic transconductance of 173?mS/mm.     

飞秒激光诱导图案独立显示研究

介绍了采用中心波长为800nm的飞秒激光在不锈钢(316L)表面诱导产生独立显示图案的研究。结果表明,当扫描速率为15mm/s,扫描行距为20μm,能量密度为1.1J/cm2时,飞秒激光能够在不锈钢表面形成均匀的周期为540nm的亚波长条纹结构。利用条纹结构的方向与激光光波偏振方向严格垂直的特性,通过改变激光偏振,可以在金属表面形成不同方向的条纹图案。在照明白光的辐照下,改变样品的方位角,形成的图案能够以彩色方式显示出来。此外,对使图案彩色显示的坐标区域与图案色彩能够覆盖的可见光谱范围进行了研究,并对其可能的应用进行分析。     

Er:Yb-doped waveguide laser fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses

Laser action is demonstrated in a 20-mm-long waveguide fabricated on an Er:Yb-doped phosphate glass by femtosecond laser pulses. An output power of 1.7 mW with approximately 300 mW of pump power coupled into the waveguide is obtained at 1533.5 nm. Waveguides are manufactured with the 520-nm radiation from a frequency-doubled, diode-pumped, cavity-dumped Yb:glass laser operating at a 166-KHz repetition rate, with a 300-fs pulse duration.     

Computer-generated volume holograms fabricated by femtosecond laser micromachining

We define computer-generated volume holograms (CGVHs) as arbitrary 3D refractive index modulations designed to perform optical functions based on diffraction, scattering, and interference phenomena. CGVHs can differ dramatically from classical volume holograms in terms of coding possibilities, and from thin computer-generated holograms in terms of efficiency and selectivity. We propose an encoding technique for designing such holograms and demonstrate the concept by scanning focused femtosecond laser pulses to produce localized refractive index modifications in glass. These CGVHs show a significant increase in efficiency with thickness. Consequently, they are attractive for photonic integration with free-space and guided-wave devices, as well as for encoding spatial and temporal information.     

飞秒激光诱导图案独立显示研究

介绍了采用中心波长为800 nm的飞秒激光在不锈钢(316L)表面诱导产生独立显示图案的研究。结果表明,当扫描速率为15 mm/s,扫描行距为20 m,能量密度为1.1 J/cm2时,飞秒激光能够在不锈钢表面形成均匀的周期为540 nm的亚波长条纹结构。利用条纹结构的方向与激光光波偏振方向严格垂直的特性,通过改变激光偏振,可以在金属表面形成不同方向的条纹图案。在照明白光的辐照下,改变样品的方位角,形成的图案能够以彩色方式显示出来。此外,对使图案彩色显示的坐标区域与图案色彩能够覆盖的可见光谱范围进行了研究,并对其可能的应用进行分析。     

Optical and electrical properties of In-doped CdO thin films fabricated by pulse laser deposition

Transparent indium-doped cadmium oxide (In-CdO) thin films were deposited on quartz glass substrates by pulse laser deposition (PLD) from ablating Cd-In metallic target at a fixed pressure 10 Pa and a fixed substrate temperature 300 °C. The influences of indium concentrations in target on the microstructure, optical and electrical performances were studied. When the indium concentration reaches to 3.9 wt%, the as-deposited In-CdO film shows high optical transmission in visible light region, obviously enhanced direct band gap energy (2.97 eV), higher carrier concentration and lower electric resistivity compared with the undoped CdO film, while a further increase of indium concentration to 5.6 wt% induces the formation of In₂O₃, which reverse the variation of these parameters and performance.     

Embedded birefringent computer-generated holograms fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses

Birefringent computer-generated holograms are fabricated in bulk fused silica by tight focusing of infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The polarization properties of the elliptically polarized diffracted light are in excellent agreement with the theoretical model. We experimentally demonstrate that for such birefringent structures the signal-to-noise ratio increases by approximately 9 dB when polarization filtering is used to suppress the undiffracted beam.     

基于少数层石墨烯可饱和吸收的锁模光纤激光器

本文利用化学气相沉积法高温分解甲烷在铜箔上制得单层石墨烯薄膜, 测量了石墨烯的拉曼光谱. 将石墨烯薄膜逐层转移到光纤跳线的氧化锆插芯端面上做成可饱和吸收材料, 实验研究了环形腔掺铒光纤脉冲激光器的输出特性, 获得了峰值波长为1560.1 nm, 3 dB带宽为0.27 nm, 重复频率为7.69 MHz, 脉冲宽度为58.8 ps 的锁模脉冲序列. 时间带宽积为1.98, 表明脉冲出现了啁啾. 最后, 通过改变两个光纤活动接头之间的空气腔的长度, 激光波长实现了4 nm的调谐. 关键词： 光纤激光器 石墨烯 锁模     

Fabrication of micro-gratings on Au-Cr thin film by femtosecond laser interference with different pulse durations

We encoded surface relief micro-gratings on Au-Cr thin films using two-beam interference of femtosecond laser pulses with the durations from 25 fs to 70 fs. The dependence of the fabrication quality on the pulse duration has been investigated both numerically and experimentally. The results revealed that the shorter pulses were preferable to prepare periodical microstructures with minimal ablation fringe width and satisfied fabrication quality. This work has potential applications on periodic functional microstructures fabrication for ultra-fine processing and modification on various materials, especially for intractable materials.     

Formation of nanostructures by an intense femtosecond pulse laser irradiating Au film on sapphire substrate

We investigate the morphology change of Au film on sapphire substrate by irradiating with a 1 kHz femtosecond pulse laser. Under observation of a scanning electron microscope, a textured nanostructure was formed in the exposed area on Au film due to laser ablation and subsequent stress relaxation. This process was strongly determined by the laser intensity profile and the dynamics of molten liquid. With the increasing of laser pulses number, the Au film was broken down and then a few polarization-dependent nanoripples arranged in the same direction appeared on the sapphire surface, which may result from a spatial modulation of energy due to the interference between the incident light and the excited surface plasmon polaritons. In addition, we used an energy dispersive spectrometer to analyze the chemical composition of nanoripples on the surface and in the ablated crater, respectively. The changes of O and Al elements implied that a complicated chemical transformation participated in the nanoripples formation process. We believe that present results are very useful for the analysis of the interaction between femtosecond laser and solids, especially the film material.     

飞秒激光制备彩色镍

采用飞秒脉冲激光在空气条件下扫描处理镍片表面,制备了彩色镍。用扫描电子显微镜、紫外-可见-近红外分光光度计、拉曼光谱仪等对其进行了表征。扫描电子显微镜测量显示,彩色镍表面出现了纳米激光诱导周期表面结构,结构周期为480～510 nm;紫外-可见-近红外分光光度计测量表明,彩色镍对波长为200～2 200 nm的光的反射率大大降低;拉曼谱表明样品表面形成了一定含量的氧化镍。     

飞秒激光制备彩色镍

 采用飞秒脉冲激光在空气条件下扫描处理镍片表面,制备了彩色镍。用扫描电子显微镜、紫外-可见-近红外分光光度计、拉曼光谱仪等对其进行了表征。扫描电子显微镜测量显示,彩色镍表面出现了纳米激光诱导周期表面结构,结构周期为480～510 nm;紫外-可见-近红外分光光度计测量表明,彩色镍对波长为200～2 200 nm的光的反射率大大降低;拉曼谱表明样品表面形成了一定含量的氧化镍。     

飞秒脉冲激光辐照下硅表面光致荧光特性

采用钛宝石飞秒脉冲激光对单晶硅在空气中进行辐照,研究了硅表面在不同扫描速度和能量密度下的光致荧光特性。光致荧光谱（PL）测量表明,在样品没有退火处理的情况下,激光扫描区域观察到橙色荧光峰（603 nm）和红色荧光带（680 nm附近）。扫描电子显微镜（SEM）测量显示,在飞秒脉冲激光辐照硅样品的过程中硅表面沉积了大量的纳米颗粒。利用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪（FT-IR）检测到了低值氧化物SiOx（x＜2）的存在,并且结合能谱仪（EDS）检测结果发现氧元素在光致发光中起着重要作用。研究表明：603 nm处橙色荧光峰来自微构造硅表面低值氧化物SiOx,680 nm附近红色荧光带来自量子限制效应。同时样品表面硅纳米颗粒的尺寸和氧元素的浓度分别决定了红色荧光带和橙色荧光的强度,通过调节飞秒激光脉冲的扫描速度和能量密度,可以有效地控制样品的荧光强度。     

高厚度薄膜-泡沫平面调制靶的飞秒激光微加工

利用数值孔径为0.14的显微物镜聚焦中心波长800 nm、脉宽120 fs、重复频率1 kHz的飞秒激光,采用焦点逐线扫描等距下移方式,选取的入射平均功率为30 mW,加工速度为300 μm/s,对瑞利-泰勒(R-T)不稳定性实验靶用的厚度1.5 mm聚苯乙烯（PS）薄膜-聚4-甲基-1-戊烯（PMP）泡沫双层复合长条块体样品进行精确切割成型,并与纳秒激光切割情形对比。结果表明：利用飞秒激光微加工有效控制了切割区变形和材料分层,获得了整齐的切割边缘和平坦的切割面,样品最大切割深度超过800 μm。     

Large-area surface-enhanced Raman scattering-active substrates fabricated by femtosecond laser ablation

A rapid and simple approach to fabricate large-area surface-enhanced Raman scattering-active(SERS-active) substrates is reported.The substrates are fabricated by using femtosecond laser(fs-laser) direct writing on Silicon wafers,followed by thin-film coating of metal such as gold.The substrates are demonstrated to exhibit signal homogeneity and good enhancement ability for SERS.The maximum enhancement factor(EF) up to 3×10 7 of such SERS substrates for rhodamine 6G(R6G) at 785 nm excitation wavelength was measured.This technique could demonstrate a functional microchip with SERS capability of signal homogeneity,high sensitivity and chemical stability.     

Microlens arrays of high-refractive-index glass fabricated by femtosecond laser lithography

Microlens arrays of high-refractive-index glass GeO₂-SiO₂ were fabricated by femtosecond laser lithography assisted micromachining. GeO₂-SiO₂ thin glass films, which were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, have a refractive index of 1.4902 and exhibit high transparency at wavelengths longer than 320 nm. Using a femtosecond laser, three-dimensional patterns were written inside resists on GeO₂-SiO₂ films, and then the patterns were transferred to the underlying films by CHF₃ and O₂ plasma treatments. This combined process enabled us to obtain uniform microlens structures with a diameter of 38 μm. The heights of the transferred lenses were approximately one-quarter the height of the resist patterns, due to differences in the plasma etching rates between GeO₂-SiO₂ and the resist. The lens surfaces were smooth. When 632.8-nm-wavelength He-Ne laser light was normally coupled to the lenses, focal spots with a diameter of 3.0 μm were uniformly observed. The combined process was effective in fabricating three-dimensional surfaces of inorganic optical materials.