Nanosecond pulsed laser ablation of silicon in liquids

Laser fluence and laser shot number are important parameters for pulse laser based micromachining of silicon in liquids. This paper presents laser-induced ablation of silicon in liquids of the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and the water at different applied laser fluence levels and laser shot numbers. The experimental results are conducted using 15 ns pulsed laser irradiation at 532 nm. The silicon surface morphology of the irradiated spots has an appearance as one can see in porous formation. The surface morphology exhibits a large number of cavities which indicates as bubble nucleation sites. The observed surface morphology shows that the explosive melt expulsion could be a dominant process for the laser ablation of silicon in liquids using nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation at 532 nm. Silicon surface’s ablated diameter growth was measured at different applied laser fluences and shot numbers in both liquid interfaces. A theoretical analysis suggested investigating silicon surface etching in liquid by intense multiple nanosecond laser pulses. It has been assumed that the nanosecond pulsed laser-induced silicon surface modification is due to the process of explosive melt expulsion under the action of the confined plasma-induced pressure or shock wave trapped between the silicon target and the overlying liquid. This analysis allows us to determine the effective lateral interaction zone of ablated solid target related to nanosecond pulsed laser illumination. The theoretical analysis is found in excellent agreement with the experimental measurements of silicon ablated diameter growth in the DMSO and the water interfaces. Multiple-shot laser ablation threshold of silicon is determined. Pulsed energy accumulation model is used to obtain the single-shot ablation threshold of silicon. The smaller ablation threshold value is found in the DMSO, and the incubation effect is also found to be absent.     

连续和重复频率激光对旋转壳体加热效率的数值模拟

 基于有效利用激光能量的目的,采用有限元分析方法分析并比较了重复频率和连续激光对旋转壳体的加热效率。数值计算结果表明：重复频率激光要比连续激光的加热效率高,而且加热效率与重复频率、占空比等有关;在平均功率密度相同的前提下,在频率相同条件下,占空比减小,温度上升加快,即加热效率随占空比的减小而增大;在相同占空比条件下,重复频率越小温度周期变化越明显,振荡峰值越大,当占空比较小时随着辐照时间的增加重复频率对加热效率影响减小。     

Effect of vapor attenuation in surface ablation of cobalt by pulsed UV laser

Numerical calculations based on a thermal model were presented, which describe the process of target heating and ablation of cobalt during irradiation by 30-ns laser pulses at 308 nm. The attenuation of laser by vapor has been taken into account in this model. As results of the calculations, the temperature distribution beneath the target surface and the temporal evolution of surface temperature were given. The dependence of ablation rate on laser fluence was also studied based on this model. The surface ablation of cobalt with pulsed excimer laser was investigated experimentally. Our model considering proper vapor attenuation has shown to be in good agreement with the experimental results. Received: 20 January 2000 / Accepted: 13 March 2000 / Published online: 5 July 2000     

Nanosecond laser ablation for pulsed laser deposition of yttria

A thermal model to describe high-power nanosecond pulsed laser ablation of yttria (Y₂O₃) has been developed. This model simulates ablation of material occurring primarily through vaporization and also accounts for attenuation of the incident laser beam in the evolving vapor plume. Theoretical estimates of process features such as time evolution of target temperature distribution, melt depth and ablation rate and their dependence on laser parameters particularly for laser fluences in the range of 6 to 30 J/cm² are investigated. Calculated maximum surface temperatures when compared with the estimated critical temperature for yttria indicate absence of explosive boiling at typical laser fluxes of 10 to 30 J/cm². Material ejection in large fragments associated with explosive boiling of the target needs to be avoided when depositing thin films via the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique as it leads to coatings with high residual porosity and poor compaction restricting the protective quality of such corrosion-resistant yttria coatings. Our model calculations facilitate proper selection of laser parameters to be employed for deposition of PLD yttria corrosion-resistive coatings. Such coatings have been found to be highly effective in handling and containment of liquid uranium.     

Bleaching of color centers in NaCl crystals with laser pulses

Abstract

Bleaching of F centers in gamma irradiated NaCl crystals at room temperature and elevated temperatures using laser pulses from pulsed laser systems is studied in this paper. The rate of decay of F centers is monitored and the decay constants are evaluated. A comparison on the decay kinetics is made for CW and pulsed bleaching with a He-Cd laser. F center to C center conversions using a thermo-optic scheme are carried out with nanosecond dye laser pulses in gamma irradiated NaCl crystals.     

1 053 nm脉冲激光对铝合金/水结构辐照效应

 使用1 053 nm脉冲激光分别辐照铝合金单板和铝合金/水结构,通过表面形貌观察、温度场分析、熔穿时间测量等手段,分析了水的存在对铝合金壳体烧蚀的影响。运用有限元软件ANSYS,建立了脉冲激光辐照下单板及结构温度变化的数值模型,计算了铝合金表面熔凝区域的尺寸,并与实验结果进行了对比。结果表明：在相同的实验条件下,辐照8个激光脉冲时,铝合金单板即被熔穿,而辐照10个脉冲后铝合金/水结构仍未发生熔穿,且结构中铝合金表面的熔凝区域要小于单板情形中的熔凝区域,这表明水的存在对延缓铝合金板的烧蚀有较大的作用。对于单板情形,计算结果与实验结果符合较好,而对于铝合金/水结构情形,数值模拟放大了铝合金壳体的温升,这主要是因为数值模拟程序未考虑水的对流及沸腾换热对计算结果的影响。     

Formation of periodic structures by laser ablation of metals in liquids

Experimental results are presented on ablation of metals (W, Cu, brass and bronze) in a liquid environment (e.g., ethanol or water) by irradiation with either a pulsed copper vapor laser (0.51 μm) or a pulsed Nd:YAG laser (1.06 μm). The target material is ejected into surrounding liquid in the form of nanoparticles. In a certain range of laser parameters (fluence and number of laser shots) the surface of the solid target is composed of micro-cones having a regular structure. The distance between neighboring micro-cones in the structure depends on the laser spot size. The structures allow the observation of up-conversion of the laser frequency due to generation of the second harmonics in the eye retina.     

Dressing of resin-bonded superabrasive grinding wheels by means of acousto-optic Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser

The preparation of the use of resin-bonded superabrasive grinding wheels remains a problem despite their availabilities on the market in the past years and possible technological advantages. In this paper, an acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG pulsed laser is applied to dressing resin-bonded superabrasive wheels in orthogonal direction. The author proposes a systematical study on the mechanism of selective removal, crater ablated by single pulse and surface topography after dressing, and consequently presents a feasible method of selecting irradiation parameters and summarizes the dressing features and disciplines of dressing effects influenced by these parameters. Experiments results indicate the surface topography dressed by acousto-optic Q-switched YAG pulsed laser dressing is much superior to mechanical dressing and CW laser dressing.     

Hybrid laser processing for microfabrication of glass

Hybrid laser processing for the precision microfabrication of glass materials, in which the interaction of a conventional pulsed laser beam and a medium on the material surface leads to effective ablation and modification, is reviewed. A major role of the medium is to produce strong absorption of the conventional laser beam by the material. Simultaneous irradiation by a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser beam that possesses an extremely small laser fluence and an ultraviolet (UV) laser greatly improves the ablation quality and modification efficiency for fused silica (VUV-UV multiwavelength excitation process). The metal plasma generated by the laser beam effectively assists high-quality ablation of transparent materials by the same laser beam, resulting in microstructuring, cutting, color marking, printing, and selective metallization of glass materials (laser-induced plasma-assisted ablation (LIPAA)). The detailed discussion presented here includes the ablation mechanism of hybrid laser processing. Received: 18 December 2002 / Accepted: 20 January 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +81-48/462-4682, E-mail: ksugioka@postman.riken.go.jp     

Interaction between laser beam and target in pulsed laser deposition: laser fluence and ambient gas effects

The most prominent phenomena on the target surface induced by laser irradiation in pulsed laser deposition is the formation of conical morphologies in the irradiated area. The conical morphologies formed under different laser fluences and the ambient oxygen pressures in KrF laser ablation of Pb(Zr_0.53Ti_0.47)O₃ were studied in detail by using scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that, depending on the melting extent of the irradiated surface, there are two kinds of cones: one type with well-defined cone tip and cone body and the other having only a cone tip. Pb is very deficient in cone tip. The gas ambient pressure plays a remarkable role in the laser-target interaction. These results are interpreted by employing the impurity shielding mechanism and the surface instability mechanism.     

Numerical model and experimental demonstration of high precision ablation of pulse CO_2 laser

To reveal the physical mechanism of laser ablation and establish the prediction model for figuring the surface of fused silica, a multi-physical transient numerical model coupled with heat transfer and fluid flow was developed under pulsed CO_2 laser irradiation. The model employed various heat transfer and hydrodynamic boundary and thermomechanical properties for assisting the understanding of the contributions of Marangoni convention,gravitational force, vaporization recoil pressure, and capillary force in the process of laser ablation and better prediction of laser processing. Simulation results indicated that the vaporization recoil pressure dominated the formation of the final ablation profile. The ablation depth increased exponentially with pulse duration and linearly with laser energy after homogenous evaporation. The model was validated by experimental data of pulse CO_2 laser ablation of fused silica. To further investigate laser beam figuring, local ablation by varying the overlap rate and laser energy was conducted, achieving down to 4 nm homogenous ablation depth.     

切向气流和激光作用下碳纤维/环氧材料的损伤特性

无气流和切向气流马赫数分别为0.50,0.85条件下,开展了碳纤维/环氧材料激光辐照损伤特性研究实验,对碳纤维、环氧树脂和复合材料热失重曲线、温度历史曲线以及实验后复合材料损伤形进行分析,结果表明:由于切向气流阻止材料燃烧且对材料表面起冷却作用,无气流条件下材料的热损伤区域远大于激光辐照区域,与切向气流条件相比,材料后表面温升时间长、温升幅值高;在切向气流环境下,由于气流作用使得材料的损伤包括烧蚀损伤和断裂损伤;从损伤形貌和后表面温度历史、温升速率比较来看,在切向气流马赫数为0.50~0.85的速度范围内,碳纤维/环氧材料在切向气流和连续激光(102 W/cm2量级)联合作用下的损伤差异不明显。     

Effect of fluence and ambient environment on the surface and structural modification of femtosecond laser irradiated Ti

Under certain conditions, ultrafast pulsed laser interaction with matter leads to the formation of self-organized conical as well as periodic surface structures(commonly reffered to as, laser induced periodic surface structures, LIPSS). The purpose of the present investigations is to explore the effect of fsec laser fluence and ambient environments(Vacuum O_2) on the formation of LIPSS and conical structures on the Ti surface. The surface morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscope(SEM). The ablation threshold with single and multiple(N = 100) shots and the existence of an incubation effect was demonstrated by SEM investigations for both the vacuum and the O_2 environment. The phase analysis and chemical composition of the exposed targets were performed by x-ray diffraction(XRD) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy(EDS), respectively. SEM investigations reveal the formation of LIPSS(nano micro). FFT d-spacing calculations illustrate the dependence of periodicity on the fluence and ambient environment. The periodicity of nano-scale LIPSS is higher in the case of irradiation under vacuum conditions as compared to O_2. Furthermore, the O2 environment reduces the ablation threshold. XRD data reveal that for the O_2 environment, new phases(oxides of Ti) are formed. EDS analysis exhibits that after irradiation under vacuum conditions, the percentage of impurity element(Al) is reduced. The irradiation in the O_2 environment results in 15% atomic diffusion of oxygen.     

Non-contact subsurface temperature measurements following mid-infrared laser irradiation

A difficult challenge in laser processing at nanosecond time scales is monitoring substrate temperature in the laser focal volume, particularly for mid-infrared laser irradiation where the absorption depth is relatively large and the attained temperatures are often relatively low. Here, we describe time-dependent measurements of the subsurface temperature of a target material following absorption of pulsed mid-infrared (MIR) laser irradiation, by detecting the luminescence from micron-size ceramic phosphor particles (Gd-doped YAG:Ce) embedded in the target material at a concentration of up to 10 %. Temperature calibrations were obtained by measuring the luminescence decay of the probe particles in an oil-bath heater. A silica-nanoparticle film was irradiated by an Er:YAG laser operating in a free-running mode over a fluence range up to but below the ablation threshold, while the third harmonic of the Nd:YAG laser excited the luminescence of the probe particles. From the temperature calibrations, it was possible to infer the thermal history of the target as a function of time delay between the Er:YAG and Nd:YAG laser pulses.     

High power-efficiency terahertz quantum cascade laser

We demonstrate continuous-wave(CW) high power-efficiency terahertz quantum cascade laser based on semiinsulating surface-plasmon waveguide with epitaxial-side down(Epi-down) mounting process.The performance of the device is analyzed in detail.The laser emits at a frequency of ~3.27 THz and has a maximum CW operating temperature of ~ 70 K.The peak output powers are 177 mW in pulsed mode and 149 mW in CW mode at 10 K for 130-μm-wide Epi-down mounted lasers.The record wall-plug efficiencies in direct measurement are 2.26% and 2.05% in pulsed and CW mode,respectively.     

Vaporization and Plasma Shielding during High Power Nanosecond Laser Ablation of Silicon and Nickel

A thermal model to describe the high-power nanosecond pulsed laser ablation is presented. It involves the vaporization and the following plasma shielding effect on the whole ablation process. As an example of Si target, we obtainthe time evolution of the calculated surface temperature, ablation rate and ablation depth. It can be seen that plasma shielding plays a more important role in the ablation process with time. At the same time, the ablation depth with laser fluence based on different models is shown. Moreover, we simulate the pulsed laser irradiation Ni target. The evolution of the transmitted intensity and the variation of ablation depth per pulse with laser fluence are performed. Under the same experimental conditions, the numerical results calculated with our thermal model are more in agreement with the experimental data.     

红外光电探测器的激光损伤分析

分析了国内外有关红外光电探测器激光损伤阈值的大量测量数据。讨论了激光损伤探测器的机理以及目前尚未解决的问题。比较了高重复频率脉冲激光和连续波激光对探测器的损伤效果。分析表明 ,在相同平均功率的条件下 ,高重复频率脉冲激光与连续波激光相比 ,探测器损伤效果前者要比后者大得多     

激光输出特性对介质薄膜损伤的影响

 采用输出特性不同的几种激光器测量了多种介质光学薄膜的破坏阈值,并对典型的破坏过程进行显微分析。研究了激光输出特性的不同对薄膜损伤效果的影响:在相同能量输出的条件下,脉冲激光比连续激光更容易形成有效的破坏;连续激光则能通过能量积累而更容易对作用目标造成烧蚀破坏。     

长脉冲激光辐照下环氧树脂的热烧蚀规律

 研究了树脂基复合材料中常用的E-51环氧树脂在ms级脉冲激光辐照下热烧蚀率及质量烧蚀率的变化规律,分析了脉冲激光的辐照时间、峰值功率密度、重复频率以及脉宽对烧蚀率的影响。研究结果表明：随辐照时间的增加热烧蚀率逐渐增大,但辐照一定时间后,热烧蚀率趋于稳定;峰值功率密度的增加能明显提高热烧蚀率,但随峰值功率密度的增加,热烧蚀率的增幅减小直至趋于一定值;热烧蚀率不随脉冲激光重复频率和脉宽的变化而改变,当峰值功率密度一定时,热烧蚀率一定,质量烧蚀率与频率和脉宽成正比。     

Synthesis of nanoparticles by pulsed laser ablation of consolidated metal microparticles

This paper describes a novel process of nanoparticle synthesis by pulsed laser ablation of consolidated microparticles. Metal microparticles, including Cu, Al and Ag, are consolidated by a cold isobaric press with pressures up to a few hundred MPa before laser irradiation. Nanoparticles are then synthesized in air by high-power pulsed laser ablation of the microparticles using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. It is shown that the degree of compaction plays a significant role in determining the size of the produced nanoparticles. The effect of laser fluence and collector position on the distribution of particle size is examined. Photoacoustic deflection probing and nanosecond time-resolved visualization indicate that the novel process attains increased efficiency of laser-energy coupling with the target. PACS 81.07.-b; 81.07.Wx; 42.62.Cf