Tailoring Sub-micrometer Periodic Surface Structures via Ultrashort Pulsed Direct Laser Interference Patterning

Abstract

Direct laser Interference Patterning (DLIP) with ultrashort laser pulses (ULP) represents a precise and fast technique to produce tailored periodic sub-micrometer structures on various materials. In this work, an experimental and theoretical approach is presented to investigate the previously unexplored fundamental mechanisms for the formation of unprecedented laser-induced topographies on stainless steel following proper combinations of DLIP with ULP. DLIP is aimed to determine the initial conditions of the laser-matter interaction by defining an ablated region while double ULP are used to control the reorganisation of the self-assembled laser induced sub-micrometer sized structures by exploiting the interplay of different absorption and excitation levels coupled with the melt hydrodynamics induced by the first of the double pulses. A multiscale physical model is presented to correlate the interference period, polarization orientation and number of incident pulses with the induced morphologies. Special emphasis is given to electron excitation, relaxation processes and hydrodynamical effects that are crucial to the production of complex morphologies. Results are expected to derive new knowledge of laser-matter interaction in combined DLIP and ULP conditions and enable enhanced fabrication capabilities of complex hierarchical sub-micrometer sized structures for a variety of applications.

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Ultrashort pulsed laser induced complex surface structures generated by tailoring the melt hydrodynamics
• Tailoring surface topographies on solids with Mid-IR femtosecond laser pulses
• The synergy of electromagnetic effects and thermophysical properties of metals in the formation of laser induced periodic surface structures
• Damage threshold evaluation of thin metallic films exposed to femtosecond laser pulses: the role of material thickness