Sensitivity improvement of a pump-probe set-up for thin film and microstructure metrology

This investigation deals with various new aspects of the sensitivity improvement of a pump-probe laser based acoustic method. A short laser pulse is used to excite a mechanical pulse thermo-elastically. Echoes of these mechanical pulses reaching the surface are causing a slight change of the optical reflectivity. The surface reflectivity is scanned versus time with a probe pulse. Thus the time of flight of the acoustic pulse is measured. The quantity to be measured i.e. the optical reflectivity change deltaR caused by acoustic pulses, is rather small. A set-up having an estimated sensitivity deltaR/R of about 10(-5) has shown to be sufficient to detect up to the fifth echo in a 50 nm aluminum film on sapphire substrate. A key challenge is the reduction of optical and electrical cross-talk between the excitation and the detection. Therefore the concepts of double-frequency modulation, cross-polarization, and balanced photodetection are implemented. Practical aspects like beam guiding, modulation techniques, beam focus minimization, and beam focus matching are discussed. Measurements for single- and multi-layer metallic films demanding higher sensitivity are presented.     

纳秒单脉冲激光诱导AgInSbTe薄膜的相变特性

利用磁控溅射法在K9玻璃基底上制备了Ag8In14Sb55Te23(AIST)纳米薄膜,并利用激光抽运-探测技术测量了薄膜的时间分辨反射率变化特性。研究结果表明,在合适能量密度的单脉冲纳秒激光脉冲作用下,AIST薄膜可以快速从沉积非晶态转化为晶态结构,晶化过程包含中间熔化态。在较低能量密度范围内,反射率变化量和晶化时间都随能量密度变化呈线性增加趋势。     

Femtosecond transient reflection from polymer surfaces during femtosecond UV photoablation

A subpicosecond KrF laser system (248 nm, 0.5 ps) was used as a light source for ablation of PMMA Mylar and Kapton. The time-dependent reflectivity of the light-induced plasma mirror as measured by 496 nm, 0.5 ps long probe pulses showed an increase of up to 94% with 0.4–1 ps rise time and 10–15 ps fall time. The highdensity plasma mirror shows perfect optical quality, and seems to be a promising light-controlled ultrafast switch for UV and visible light. The spectrum of the UV light reflected from the ablated spot is blue shifted by 0.5 nm and shows 1 nm broadening.     

Metal-nonmetal transition in the boron group elements

Structural competition in boron group elements has been studied by means of ab initio calculations. For boron we predict a structural change alpha-B-->alpha-Ga accompanied by a nonmetal-metal transition at a pressure of about 74 GPa. For Al and Ga we find an icosahedron based elemental modification (alpha-B) 0.22 and 0.05 eV/atom, respectively, higher in energy than the corresponding metallic ground state structures. In particular, the low energy difference for Ga raises expectations into the experimental feasibility of new modifications for these elements, especially in nanosized systems.     

飞秒激光脉冲作用下氧化镁的烧蚀及其超快动力学过程

研究了双面抛光氧化镁单晶（111）表面800 nm飞秒激光单脉冲烧蚀阈值和激光脉宽的依赖关系.利用泵浦-探针技术,测量不同能量和脉宽作用下飞秒激光烧蚀的时间分辨反射率的演化.通过扫描电镜观察其烧蚀形貌,发现大量的沿氧化镁［100］晶向开裂的裂纹.讨论了表面裂纹的形成机理,并解释了飞秒激光烧蚀氧化镁的超快动力学过程.     

Lifetime of optical phonons in fs-laser excited bismuth

This paper presents experimental and theoretical results on the temperature-dependent optical response of a single crystal of bismuth to excitation by femtosecond laser pulses. We demonstrate that the measured damping rate of the transient reflectivity oscillations relates to the lifetime of optical phonons. The lifetime is the inverse rate of the decay of optical phonons into two acoustic phonons. This lifetime also indicates the approach to the vibration instability (catastrophe) threshold that manifests the beginning of the disordering of a solid crystal and transition to a liquid state. We observe the red shift of phonon frequency, which increases with the rise of the initial lattice temperature. The red shift is different from the previously observed red shift proportional to the electron temperature, and thus to the excitation laser fluence. The coherent phonon excitation process imprinted into the initial change in the reflectivity and the following reflectivity oscillations allowed us to uncover the temporal phonon history preceding the structural transformation of solid Bi.     

Reflectivity in femtosecond-laser-induced structural changes of diamond-like carbon film

We report characteristic changes in reflectivity of diamond-like-carbon (DLC) films following irradiation of femtosecond laser pulses at laser fluence around the ablation threshold, where we have observed the formation of periodic nanostructure on the film surface and the modification of bonding structure from DLC to glassy carbon in our recent experiments. The experimental results have shown that the reflectivity change should be a reliable measure to monitor the experimental condition to produce the structural changes, being closely associated with the fundamental physical process to induce these phenomena. PACS 79.20.Ds; 81.40.Tv; 42.62.Cf     

(Ga,Mn)As中电流诱导自旋极化的磁光Kerr测量

在GaAs吸收带边附近, 利用磁光Kerr效应测量了(Ga,Mn)As和p-GaAs样品的电流诱导Kerr旋转谱和反射谱, 两者都呈现出Lorentz曲线形状. 电流诱导Kerr旋转角和反射率随着电流的增大而增大, Kerr角与电流的大小成正比关系, 反射率与电流的平方成正比关系. (Ga,Mn)As的Kerr旋转角比p-GaAs的大了一个数量级, 这说明Mn原子的掺杂使得电流诱导的自旋极化增强. 另外, 还测量了温度和入射光偏振方向对电流诱导Kerr旋转谱和反射谱的影响. 发现随着温度的升高, Kerr谱和反射谱均向长波方向移动, 这与GaAs带边随温度的变化是一致的.     

Scanning of a laser beam and purification of materials through the use of light-induced particle drift in semiconductors

The light-induced drift of electrons, light-absorbing impurities, and defects in II-VI semiconductors is investigated experimentally, along with some potential practical applications of the phenomenon. It is shown that the light-induced drift of electrons induces a very pronounced change in the refractive index, |Δn|∼0.01, and can be used to implement effective scanning of nanosecond and picosecond laser pulses through frustration of total internal reflection. The light-induced drift of absorbing particles increases their density in the surface layer of the crystals, and this effect can be exploited in semiconductor technology. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 121–124 (April 1998)     

Transient-reflectivity study of pulsed UV-laser-induced oxidation of Sb

Laser-induced oxidation of single-crystalline antimony and polycrystalline Sb films is studied. The samples are irradiated in an oxygen atmosphere (1.2 bar) by means of UltraViolet (UV) laser pulses while reflectivity measurements are used to monitor the oxidation process in real time. It is shown that there is an optical coupling between the growing oxide layer and the bulk material underneath which produces a dynamical change of the optical properties and leads to a non-constant growth rate. Depending on the laser energy density used, there is a critical oxide thickness above which a material-loss process starts, limiting the ultimate growth of the oxide layer.     

Experimental study on reflection of high-intensity nanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses in ablation of metals

The total reflectivity of tin and magnesium in ablation by nanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses in air is studied. It was found that the high initial reflectivity of the studied metals undergoes a significant drop to values of 0.11 for Sn and 0.16 for Mg within a laser fluence range between about 0.8 and 11 J/cm². These reduced reflectivity values remain virtually unchanged with further increasing laser fluence. This study shows that a significant reflectivity decrease of the studied metals is caused by plasma formation in front of the irradiated surface. Below the plasma formation threshold, the reflectivity of the studied metals is observed to be virtually independent of laser fluence, indicating a small role of Drude׳s temperature effect on the reflectivity of the studied samples.     

An analysis of As_2S_3 chirped fiber grating formed by two-photon absorption effect

When femtosecond laser pulses interfere with chirped femtosecond laser pulses in As2S3 fiber, a chirped fiber grating is formed. An analytical expression is given to describe the chirped grating, and its Bragg reflectivity is calculated. Because of the high photosensitive effect of As2S3 material, the chirped fiber grating has a wide Bragg reflective spectrum and high reflectivity by choosing proper parameters. This indicates that the chirped fiber grating can be used as a stretcher in the femtosecond chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system.     

EUV damage threshold measurements of Mo/Si multilayer mirrors

We present 1-on-1 and 10-on-1 damage threshold investigations on Mo/Si multilayers with EUV radiation of 13.5 nm wavelength, using a table-top laser produced plasma source based on solid gold as target material. The experiments were performed on different types of Mo/Si mirror, showing no significant difference in single pulse damage thresholds. However, the damage threshold for ten pulses is ??60?% lower than the single pulse threshold, implying a defect dominated damage process. Using Nomarski (DIC) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) we analysed the damage morphologies, indicating a primarily thermally induced damage mechanism. Additionally, we studied the radiation-induced change of reflectivity upon damage of a multilayer mirror.     

入射角对Al0.5Ga0.5As-AlAs分布布拉格反射器反射光谱的影响

采用传输矩阵法对Al0.5Ga0.5As-AlAs材料的发光二极管分布布拉格反射器进行入射角的反射光谱研究,计算发现反射偏振光p和s随入射角的增大呈“V”形变化,在49.8°处有最小反射值。不同入射介质[以空气和限制层(Al0.7Ga0.3)0.5In0.5P材料]下的反射光谱受入射角的影响差异很大,其中入射角对空气入射介质的反射谱影响较小,由0°入射的反射率88.13%降至45°的84.94%,反射峰值波长蓝移仅10 nm;但入射角对(Al0.7Ga0.3)0.5In0.5P入射介质的反射谱影响很大,仅从0°到45°入射,反射率降幅就超过45%,反射峰值波长蓝移超过127 nm。为了减缓这种影响,提出了多波长布拉格反射器结构设计。计算表明多波长分布布拉格反射器在0ο~45°的入射角内比传统的分布布拉格反射器有更好的光谱特性,这对提高发光二极管的出光效率有现实意义。     

Broadband, rapidly tunable Ti:sapphire-pumped BiB₃O₆ femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on the nonlinear material BiB?O? (BIBO) pumped directly by a Kerr lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. Using a 1.5 mm long BIBO crystal cut at θ=11.4° for collinear type I (e→o+o) phase matching in the xz optical plane, femtosecond signal pulses across 1.4-1.6 μm, and idler pulses across 1.6-1.87 μm spectral range are generated, limited by the reflectivity bandwidth of the OPO mirrors. The high nonlinear gain and large spectral acceptance for type I interaction in the xz plane of BIBO permit rapid and continuous tuning across the entire range by simple fine adjustment of OPO cavity delay or through small changes in the pump wavelength, without varying any other parameters. Additionally, owing to the near-zero group velocity mismatch and dispersion, the OPO supports broad spectrum as wide as 33 nm, which results in self-compressed signal pulses. For 150 fs pump pulses, signal pulses with durations down to 106 fs with a time-bandwidth product of 0.48 are obtained without the need for intracavity dispersion compensation.     

连续激光重复加载下30CrMnSiA钢的反射率

利用双光束反射率测量装置,研究了连续激光重复加载作用下30CrMnSiA钢金属材料的反射率变化特性。通过激光加载、冷却然后再加载到更高的温度的辐照试验与激光单次辐照的结果比较,发现二次加载时材料表面的激光反射率与样品表面首次加载时达到的最高温度所对应的反射率基本一致,只有达到并超过首次加载时样品曾达到的最高温度后,样品表面的反射率才会再次发生变化,且变化趋势与单次完整加载时的路径重合。这表明样品表面的反射率与其达到的最高温度有关,进一步的研究结果表明,样品达到的最高温度与样品表面在最高温度下产生的氧化反应层有关,而这一氧化层在冷却过程和再加载过程不变化。     

Reflection of high-intensity nanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses by metals

Total reflectivity of silver and molybdenum samples irradiated by high-intensity nanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses in air of atmospheric pressure is experimentally studied as a function of laser fluence in the range of 0.1–100 J/cm². The study shows that at laser fluences below the plasma formation threshold the total reflectivity of both silver and molybdenum remains virtually equal to the table room-temperature reflectivity values. The total reflectivity of these metals begins to decrease at a laser fluence of the plasma formation threshold. As the laser fluence increases above the plasma formation threshold, the reflectivity sharply drops to a low value and then remains unchanged with further increasing laser fluence. Calculation of the surface temperature at the plasma formation threshold fluence shows that the surface temperature value is substantially below the melting point that indicates an important role of the surface nanostructural defects in the plasma formation on a real sample due to their enhanced heating caused by both plasmonic absorption and plasmonic nanofocusing.     

Spectral modulation of ultra-broadband femtosecond laser pulses based on surface plasmon resonance

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for spectral modulation of the femtosecond laser pulses with 110 nm ultra-broad bandwidth is demonstrated on the basis of the development of ultrashort pulse laser sources which supports good spatial resolution and high peak intensity. Employing the femtosecond surface plasmon polariton pulses launched by a Kretschmann configuration, whose reflectivity curve has the characteristic of the ultra-broad bandwidth, we observe a frequency-dependent loss with greater attenuation at the peak of the spectrum profile than in the wings, which is very useful for adequate spectral modulation. The SPR for the spectral modulation is investigated in theoretical and experimental aspects. The arbitrary spectral modulation of the femtosecond laser pulses can be fulfilled by controlling and optimizing the SPR of the gold film. The experimental result agrees well with the calculation.     

Combination of microstructuring and laser-light irradiation for the reversible wettability of photosensitised polymer surfaces

The wetting characteristics of surfaces of polymers doped with photochromic spiropyran molecules can be tuned when irradiated with laser beams of properly chosen photon energy. In particular, UV laser pulses at 308 nm are responsible for the enhancement of the hydrophilicity of the surfaces, since the embedded non-polar spiropyran molecules convert to their polar merocyanine isomers upon UV absorption. The process is reversed upon irradiation with green laser pulses at 532 nm. When the photochromic-polymeric surfaces are micropatterned using soft lithography or photo-polymerisation techniques, they can change their wettability towards a more hydrophobic or more hydrophilic behaviour depending on the dimensions of the patterned features and on the hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity of the flat surface. Furthermore, the light-induced wettability variations on these structured surfaces are greatly enhanced compared to the flat surfaces. This significant increase to the wettability changes is attributed to the combination of the photochromic interconversions upon laser irradiation together with the photoinduced reversible volume changes of the patterned features. PACS 61.82.Pv; 68.08.Bc; 81.16.Nd; 82.35.-x; 42.60.-v; 68.47.Mn     

Laser induced crystallization of as-deposited amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 films

Crystallization is induced by pulsed laser irradiation of s-deposited amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 films. Changes of the irradiated areas have been analyzed with the reflectivity contrast. As laser fluences increasing,the reflectivity contrast increases from 0% - 2% to 14% - 16%, which indicates the structure of as deposited films transforms from amorphous to crystalline phases. The process of crystallization driven by the movement and rearrangement of atoms is described. And also the influence of the pulse duration on the threshold of crystallization is discussed, the results show that a lower threshold of crystallization can be produced for as-deposited films irradiated by the laser with short pulse duration. However, by the laser with long pulse duration, crystallization can only be formed with a higher threshold. The crystallization of films by irradiation of laser pulses is studied by Raman spectra.