Femtosecond laser-induced mesoporous structures on silicon surface

By femtosecond laser line-by-line scanning irradiating, large-scale microstructures were formed on the surface of silicon with dimensions of 1 × 1 mm². Scanning electron microscope investigations exhibited that homogeneous surface microstructures, such as directional-arranged bacilliform mesoporous structures, have been successfully prepared. The dependence of the surface morphology on laser pulse energy was analyzed, and the results indicated that the bacilliform mesoporous structures only can be textured within a certain energy range. The optical reflective spectrum measurement revealed that the presence of bacilliform mesoporous structures can significantly enhance the absorptivity of silicon at visible light range. This work would help to control the formation of surface micro/nanostructures on silicon and other materials, which has potential applications in solar energy, photoelectronics, biology and material science.     

Laser-induced surface modification of polystyrene

The modification induced in polystyrene (PS) by the ArF excimer laser radiation has been investigated. Various numbers of the laser pulses of the energies below the material ablation threshold were applied. Changes in the chemical composition of the PS surface layer were studied by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Analysis of the morphological changes in the polymer surface layer was performed via the atomic force microscopy (AFM). The contact angles of test liquids (water and diiodomethane) were measured with use of a goniometer while the surface energy (SE) was calculated by the Owens-Wendt method. It was found that the surface energy change was mainly affected by surface roughness caused by the laser radiation and that surface oxidation had not considerably contributed to this change. The increase in the SE was mostly due to its disperse component.     

飞秒激光诱导硒化锌晶体表面自组织生长纳米结构

 以250 kHz高重复频率钛宝石飞秒激光聚焦到硒化锌晶体表面,利用扫描电子显微镜观测飞秒激光辐照后晶体的表面结构。发现线偏振激光辐照的区域形成了自组织周期性纳米结构,其周期为160 nm左右,并且可以通过改变激光的偏振方向调节纳米光栅结构的取向;当晶体相对于激光光束以10 mm/s速度移动,经激光扫描后,在晶体表面形成了长程类布拉格光栅。当飞秒激光光束为圆偏振光时,辐照区域形成均匀的纳米颗粒。     

Femtosecond pulsed laser-induced periodic surface structures on GaN/sapphire

Femtosecond pulsed laser-induced periodic surface structure on GaN/sapphire is reported in this paper. It was found that the period of the laser-induced ripples was much dependent on the incident laser fluence. Through finely adjusting laser fluence and pulse number, uniform ripples could be formed on the sapphire surface. We attributed the formation of such periodic two-dimensional structures to optical interference of the incident laser light with scattered waves from a surface disturbance. Also, it was found that the GaN capping layer played a very important role in forming the periodic structures on the sapphire surface.     

Femtosecond pulse laser-induced self-organized nanostructures on the surface of ZnO crystal

This paper reports self-organized nanostructures observed on the surface of ZnO crystal after irradiation by a focused beam of a femtosecond Ti：sapphire laser with a repetition rate of 250kHz. For a linearly polarized femtosecond laser, the periodic nanograting structure on the ablation crater surface was promoted. The period of self-organization structures is about 180 nm. The grating orientation is adjusted by the laser polarization direction. A long range Bragglike grating is formed by moving the sample at a speed of 10μm/s. For a circularly polarized laser beam, uniform spherical nanoparticles were formed as a result of Coulomb explosion during the interaction of near-infrared laser with ZnO crystal.     

Femtosecond pulse laser-induced self-organized nanogratings on the surface of a ZnSe crystal

Periodic nanostructures are observed on the surface of ZnSe after irradiation by a focused beam of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser, which are aligned perpendicular to the laser polarization direction. The period of self-organized grating structures is about 160 nm. The phenomenon is interpreted in terms of interference between the incident light field and the surface scattered wave of 800-nm laser pulses. With the laser polarization parallel to the moving direction we produce long-range Bragg-like gratings by slowly moving the crystal under a fixed laser focus. The nanograting orientation is adjusted by laser polarization and the accumulation effect. PACS 81.16.Rf; 78.67.-n; 33.80.Rv; 82.53.Mj; 81.16.-c     

Femtosecond laser-induced damage in reflector

We have investigated the damage for ZrO₂/SiO₂ 800 nm 45° high-reflection mirror with femtosecond pulses. The damage morphologies and the evolution of ablation crater depths with laser fluences are dramatically different from that with pulse longer than a few tens of picoseconds. The ablation in multilayers occurs layer by layer, and not continuously as in the case of bulk single crystalline or amorphous materials. The weak point in damage is the interface between two layers. We also report its single-short damage thresholds for pulse durations ranging from 50 to 900 fs, which departs from the diffusion-dominated scaling. A developed avalanche model, including the production of conduction band electrons (CBE) and laser energy deposition, is applied to study the damage mechanisms. The theoretical results agree well with our measurements.     

Femtosecond laser-induced damage of gold films

Single- and multi-shot ablation thresholds of gold films in the thickness range of 31-1400 nm were determined employing a Ti:sapphire laser delivering pulses of 28 fs duration, 793 nm center wavelength at 1 kHz repetition rate. The gold layers were deposited on BK7 glass by an electron beam evaporation process and characterized by atomic force microscopy and ellipsometry. A linear dependence of the ablation threshold fluence F_th on the layer thickness d was found for d ≤ 180 nm. If a film thickness of about 180 nm was reached, the damage threshold remained constant at its bulk value. For different numbers of pulses per spot (N-on-1), bulk damage thresholds of ∼0.7 J cm⁻² (1-on-1), 0.5 J cm⁻² (10-on-1), 0.4 J cm⁻² (100-on-1), 0.25 J cm⁻² (1000-on-1), and 0.2 J cm⁻² (10000-on-1) were obtained experimentally indicating an incubation behavior. A characteristic layer thickness of L_c ≈ 180 nm can be defined which is a measure for the heat penetration depth within the electron gas before electron-phonon relaxation occurs. L_c is by more than an order of magnitude larger than the optical absorption length of α⁻¹ ≈ 12 nm at 793 nm wavelength.     

Femtosecond laser-induced ZnSe nanowires on the surface of a ZnSe wafer in water

We present a simple route for ZnSe nanowire growth in the ablation crater on a ZnSe crystal surface. The crystal wafer, which was horizontally dipped in pure water, was irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses. No furnace, vacuum chamber or any metal catalyst were used in this experiment. The size of the nanowires is about 1-3 μm long and 50-150 nm in diameter. The growth rate is 1-3 μm/s, which is much higher than that achieved with molecular-beam epitaxy and chemical vapor deposition methods. Our discovery reveals a rapid and simple way to grow nanowires on designed micro-patterns, which may have potential applications in microscopic optoelectronics.     

Femtosecond laser-induced microstructure in Foturan glass

We report on the microstructure formation in Foturan glass, induced by 1~kHz, 120 femtosecond laser irradiation. It is found that the line-shaped filamentation, not void array tends to be formed in this glass. This is different from our previous experimental results in fused silica and BK7 glasses. A possible mechanism Ag$^+$ captures the free electrons generated by laser, is proposed to explain the observed phenomena.     

Femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures on steel and titanium alloy for tribological applications

Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS, ripples) were generated on stainless steel (100Cr6) and titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) surfaces upon irradiation with multiple femtosecond laser pulses (pulse duration 30 fs, central wavelength 790 nm). The experimental conditions (laser fluence, spatial spot overlap) were optimized in a sample-scanning geometry for the processing of large surface areas (5 × 5 mm²) covered homogeneously by the nanostructures. The irradiated surface regions were subjected to white light interference microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealing spatial periods around 600 nm. The tribological performance of the nanostructured surface was characterized by reciprocal sliding against a ball of hardened steel in paraffin oil and in commercial engine oil as lubricants, followed by subsequent inspection of the wear tracks. For specific conditions, on the titanium alloy a significant reduction of the friction coefficient by a factor of more than two was observed on the laser-irradiated (LIPSS-covered) surface when compared to the non-irradiated one, indicating the potential benefit of laser surface structuring for tribological applications.     

Femtosecond laser-induced surface structures to significantly improve the thermal emission of light from metals

Extraordinary thermal emission properties of the metallic surface microstructures induced by femtosecond lasers are investigated in both experiment and theory. Within the spectral range of 4–17 μm, the measured maximum thermal emissivities at different temperatures enhance significantly to about 100%. Especially for the coral-like surface structure, the improved thermal emission behaviors can extend largely over the whole spectrum rather than happening at some distinctive wavelengths. Moreover, the enhancement factor of the thermal emissivity is observed to depend on the wavelength and the idiographic morphology of the microstructures. This phenomenon can be understood well by equivalent recognizing the SPP field coupling assisted transmission of blackbody radiation through the microstructured interfaces, and the finite-difference time-domain simulations elucidate the underlying physical pictures.     

Femtosecond laser-induced formation of spikes on silicon

We find that silicon surfaces develop arrays of sharp conical spikes when irradiated with 500-fs laser pulses in SF₆. The height of the spikes decreases with increasing pulse duration or decreasing laser fluence, and scales nonlinearly with the average separation between spikes. The spikes have the same crystallographic orientation as bulk silicon and always point along the incident direction of laser pulses. The base of the spikes has an asymmetric shape and its orientation is determined by the laser polarization. Our data suggest that both laser ablation and laser-induced chemical etching of silicon are involved in the formation of the spikes. Received: 10 September 1999 / Accepted: 7 January 2000 / Published online: 8 March 2000     

飞秒激光诱导水光学击穿阈值

为了研究飞秒激光诱导水光学击穿阈值随激光脉冲参数的变化关系,采用四阶Runge-Kutta方法对飞秒激光诱导水光学击穿的椭球体模型进行了不同脉宽（40~540 fs）、波长(400~1 200 nm)和光斑尺寸（0~200 μm）下的数值模拟。通过控制变量法得出阈值光强与这些激光脉冲参数的关系曲线图,据此定性分析了阈值光强与激光脉冲参数的变化特征趋势。应用光强与功率、能量、辐照曝光量和电场强度之间的关系,得到了它们随激光脉冲参数脉宽、波长和光斑尺寸的动态关系,这为进一步研究飞秒激光与水和含水介质的相互作用提供了理论依据。     

飞秒激光诱导水光学击穿阈值

为了研究飞秒激光诱导水光学击穿阈值随激光脉冲参数的变化关系,采用四阶RungeKutta方法对飞秒激光诱导水光学击穿的椭球体模型进行了不同脉宽(40～540fs)、波长(400～1200nm)和光斑尺寸(0～200μm)下的数值模拟。通过控制变量法得出阈值光强与这些激光脉冲参数的关系曲线图,据此定性分析了阈值光强与激光脉冲参数的变化特征趋势。应用光强与功率、能量、辐照曝光量和电场强度之间的关系,得到了它们随激光脉冲参数脉宽、波长和光斑尺寸的动态关系,这为进一步研究飞秒激光与水和含水介质的相互作用提供了理论依据。     

Femtosecond laser-induced blazed periodic grooves on metals

In this Letter, we generate laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSSs) on platinum following femtosecond laser pulse irradiation. For the first time to our knowledge, we study the morphological profile of LIPSSs over a broad incident angular range, and find that the morphological profile of LIPSSs depends significantly on the incident angle of the laser beam. We show that LIPSS grooves become more asymmetric at a larger incident angle, and the morphological profile of LIPSSs formed at an incident angle over 55° eventually resembles that of a blazed grating. Our study suggests that the formation of the blazed groove structures is attributed to the selective ablation of grooves through the asymmetric periodic surface heating following femtosecond pulse irradiation. The blazed grooves are useful for controlling the diffraction efficiency of LIPSSs.     

Femtosecond laser-induced nanostructure-covered large-scale waves on metals

Through femtosecond (fs) laser pulse irradiation (pulse duration: 65 fs, central wavelength: 800 nm, and repetition rate: 250 Hz), we investigate the morphological evolution of fs laser-induced periodic surface structure on Au and Pt, called a nanostructure-covered large-scale wave (NC-LSW) with a period of tens of microns, densely covered by iterating stripe patterns of nanostructures and microstructures. We show that the surface morphology of NC-LSW crucially depends on the fluence of the laser, the number of irradiating pulses, and the incident beam angle. Our experimental observations allow us to establish a three-step model for the NC-LSW formation: the formation of laser-induced surface unevenness, inhomogeneous energy deposition due to the interference between the incident light and the scattered field, and nonuniform energy deposition due to shielding by the peaks of LSW.