Laser induced formation of micro-rough structures

Abstract Laser induced micro-rough structures (LIMS) are a by-product of laser ablation process and are created during multiple pulse irradiation on the surface of the material. Although LIMS have been found to be deleterious for the thin film deposition process, these surfaces have wide variety of applications in synthesis of adherent coatings in thermal expansion mismatched systems. Earlier models, based on interference effects of the laser beam, to explain the evolution of LIMS, are not consistent with the experimental results. Experiments were conducted on a wide variety of materials (e.g. SiC, alumina, YBaCuO superconductor, etc.) to understand the mechanisms for generation of the micro-rough structures. A novel model was developed to explain the characteristics of LIMS such as (i) feature orientation (ii) evolution of surface structures as a function of pulses, (iii) formation of LIMS within a energy window near ablation threshold and (iv) periodicity which is independent of the laser wavelength and incident angle.