Nanograting formation on metals in air with interfering femtosecond laser pulses

It is demonstrated that a homogeneous nanograting having the groove period much smaller than the laser wavelength (∼800 nm) can be fabricated on metals in air through ablation induced by interfering femtosecond laser pulses (100 fs at a repetition rate of 10 Hz). Morphological changes on stainless steel and Ti surfaces, observed with an increase in superimposed shots of the laser pulses at a low fluence, have shown that the nanograting is developed through bonding structure change at the interference fringes, plasmonic near-field ablation to create parallel grooves on the fringe, and subsequent excitation of surface plasmon polaritons to regulate the groove intervals at 1/3 or 1/4 of the fringe period over the whole irradiated area. Calculation for a model target having a thin oxide layer on the metal substrate reproduces well the observed groove periods and explains the mechanism for the nanograting formation.

[1]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Ultrafast dynamics of periodic nanostructure formation on diamondlike carbon films irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses , 2006 .

[2]  S. Lan,et al.  Formation of 100-nm periodic structures on a titanium surface by exploiting the oxidation and third harmonic generation induced by femtosecond laser pulses. , 2014, Optics express.

[3]  Harold K. Haugen,et al.  Subwavelength ripple formation on the surfaces of compound semiconductors irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses , 2003 .

[4]  Minoru Obara,et al.  Plasmonic and Mie scattering control of far-field interference for regular ripple formation on various material substrates. , 2011, Optics express.

[5]  G. Miyaji,et al.  Mechanism and control of periodic surface nanostructure formation with femtosecond laser pulses , 2013, Applied Physics A.

[6]  E. Mazur,et al.  The thresholds of surface nano-/micro-morphology modifications with femtosecond laser pulse irradiations , 2010, Nanotechnology.

[7]  Peter Balling,et al.  Ultra-short pulse laser ablation of metals: threshold fluence, incubation coefficient and ablation rates , 2010 .

[8]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Reflectivity in femtosecond-laser-induced structural changes of diamond-like carbon film , 2005 .

[9]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Femtosecond-laser-induced nanostructure formed on nitrided stainless steel , 2013 .

[10]  Jörg Krüger,et al.  Sub-100-nm laser-induced periodic surface structures upon irradiation of titanium by Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser pulses in air , 2013 .

[11]  Yoshiharu Namba,et al.  Regular subwavelength surface structures induced by femtosecond laser pulses on stainless steel. , 2009, Optics letters.

[12]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Glassy carbon layer formed in diamond-like carbon films with femtosecond laser pulses , 2004 .

[13]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Origin of periodicity in nanostructuring on thin film surfaces ablated with femtosecond laser pulses. , 2008, Optics express.

[14]  Marian Zamfirescu,et al.  Periodical structures induced by femtosecond laser on metals in air and liquid environments , 2013 .

[15]  Klaus Sokolowski-Tinten,et al.  Generation of dense electron-hole plasmas in silicon , 2000 .

[16]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Nanograting formation through surface plasmon fields induced by femtosecond laser pulses , 2013 .

[17]  S. Mao,et al.  Femtosecond laser-induced electronic plasma at metal surface , 2008 .

[18]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Mechanism of femtosecond-laser-induced periodic nanostructure formation on crystalline silicon surface immersed in water. , 2012, Optics express.

[19]  Heinz Sturm,et al.  Chemical, morphological and accumulation phenomena in ultrashort-pulse laser ablation of TiN in air , 2000 .

[20]  Y. Ujihira,et al.  Analysis of oxide layers on stainless steel (304, and 316) by conversion electron Mössbauer spectrometry , 1990 .

[21]  Björn Karlsson,et al.  Optical constants and spectral selectivity of stainless steel and its oxides , 1982 .

[22]  Shigeki Tokita,et al.  Laser fluence dependence of periodic grating structures formed on metal surfaces under femtosecond laser pulse irradiation , 2010 .

[23]  A. Ionin,et al.  Femtosecond laser fabrication of sub-diffraction nanoripples on wet Al surface in multi-filamentation regime: High optical harmonics effects? , 2014 .

[24]  L. V. Seleznev,et al.  Femtosecond laser writing of subwave one-dimensional quasiperiodic nanostructures on a titanium surface , 2009 .

[25]  G. Miyaji,et al.  Role of multiple shots of femtosecond laser pulses in periodic surface nanoablation , 2013 .

[26]  E. Palik,et al.  Optical Parameters for the Materials in HOC I and HOC II , 1997 .

[27]  Qihong Wu,et al.  Femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structure on diamond film , 2003 .

[28]  V. Gritsenko,et al.  Electronic structure of TiO2 rutile with oxygen vacancies: Ab initio simulations and comparison with the experiment , 2011 .

[29]  Jörg Krüger,et al.  Femtosecond laser interaction with silicon under water confinement , 2004 .

[30]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Nanoscale ablation on patterned diamondlike carbon film with femtosecond laser pulses , 2007 .

[31]  Florenta Costache,et al.  Ripples revisited: non-classical morphology at the bottom of femtosecond laser ablation craters in transparent dielectrics , 2002 .

[32]  Jörg Krüger,et al.  Femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures , 2012 .

[33]  Zhi‐zhan Xu,et al.  Formation of long- and short-periodic nanoripples on stainless steel irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses , 2011 .

[34]  Jeff F. Young,et al.  Laser-induced periodic surface structure. I. Theory , 1983 .

[35]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Femtosecond-laser-induced nanostructure formed on hard thin films of TiN and DLC , 2003 .

[36]  John S. Preston,et al.  Ripple formation during deep hole drilling in copper with ultrashort laser pulses , 2007 .

[37]  Kenzo Miyazaki,et al.  Periodic Nanostructure Formation on Silicon Irradiated with Multiple Low-fluence Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Water , 2012 .