Alignment of nanoparticles formed on the surface of 6H-SiC crystals irradiated by two collinear femtosecond laser beams

Nanoripples with periods of 150 and 80 nm are formed on the surface of 6H-SiC crystals irradiated by the p-polarized 800 nm and the s-polarized 400 nm femtosecond lasers, respectively. When both of the two collinear laser beams focus simultaneously on the sample surface, nanoparticles are formed on the whole ablation area, and they array in parallel lines. We propose and confirm that the second harmonics in the sample surface excited by the incident lasers plays an important role in the formation of nanostructures.

Radius of curvature measurements for laser beams: A simple method

A simple method for measuring the radius of curvature of laser beams is introduced. It has been developed to estimate the astigmatic aberration of a diode laser. Compared with the interferornetry, this method is convenient and straightforward. (c) 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Focal shifts in focused Hermite-cosh-Gaussian laser beams

A closed-form propagation equation of Hermite-cosh-Gaussian beams passing through an unapertured thin lens is derived. Focal shifts are analyzed by means of two different methods according to the facts that the axial intensity of some focused Hermite-cosh-Gaussian beams are null and that of some others are not null but the principal maximum intensity may be located on the axis or off the axis. Optimal focusing for the beams is studied, and the condition of optimal focusing ensuring the smallest beam width is also given. (c) 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Fields of apertured polychromatic laser beams with Gaussian and Hermite-Gaussian transverse modes

Starting from the Huygens-Fresnel diffraction integral, the field expressions of apertured polychromatic laser beams with Gaussian and Hermite-Gaussian transverse modes are derived. Influence of the bandwidth on the intensity distributions of the laser beams is analyzed. It is found that when the bandwidth increases, the amplitudes and numbers of the intensity spikes decrease and beam uniformity is improved in the near field and the width of transverse intensity distribution of the apertured beams decreases in the far field. Thus, the smoothing and narrowing effects can be achieved by increasing the bandwidth. Also, these effects are found in the laser beams with Hermite-Gaussian transverse modes as the bandwidth increases.(c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Focal shift in focused radially polarized ultrashort pulsed laser beams

Beginning with a beam coherence polarization (BCP) matrix, we obtain an analytical intensity expression for radially polarized ultrashort pulsed laser beams that pass through an apertureless aplanatic lens. We also investigate the intensity distribution of radially polarized beams in the vicinity of the focus. The focal shift of these beams is studied in detail. The focal shift depends strongly on Z(F) that coincides with pi times the Fresnel number. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Formation of arrayed holes on metal foil and metal film by multibeam interfering femtosecond laser beams

We report on an optical interference method to fabricate arrayed holes on metal nickel foil and aluminum film deposited on glass substrate by means of five-beam interference of femtosecond laser pulses. Optical microscope and scanning electron microscope observations revealed that arrayed holes of micrometre-order were fabricated on both metal foil and metal film. The present technique allows one-step, large-area, micrometric processing of metal materials for potential industrial applications.

Optical transfer of periodic microstructures by interfering femtosecond laser beams

We report on an optical interference method for transferring periodic microstructures of metal film from a supporting substrate to a receiving substrate by means of five-beam interference of femtosecond laser pulses. Scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy revealed microstructures with micrometer-order were transferred to the receiving substrate. In the meanwhile, a negative copy of the transferred structures was induced in the metal film on the supporting substrate. The diffraction characteristics of the transferred structures were also evaluated. The present technique allows one-step realization of functional optoelectronic devices. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.

High-power laser beam shaping by inseparable two-dimensional binary-phase gratings for surface modification of stamping dies

For surface modification of stamping dies, an inseparable two-dimensional binary-phase gratings is introduced to implement the wavefront transformation of high-power laser beams. The design and fabrication of the gratings are described in detail. Two-dimensional even sampling encoding scheme is adopted to overcome the limitations of conventional Dammann grating in the design of two-dimensional output patterns. High diffractive efficiency (>70%) can be achieved through the transformation of the Gaussian laser beam into several kinds of two-dimensional arrays in focal plan. The application of the binary-phase gratings in the laser surface modification of ductile iron is investigated, and the results show that the hardness and the wear resistance of the sample surface were improved significantly by using the binary-phase gratings. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultrafast control of multiple filamentation by ultrafast laser pulses

Control of multiple filamentation by laser-induced microlens effect due to a nonlinear interaction of two overlapping laser beams inside a glass plate was demonstrated. Individual or multiple spots on the white light pattern which is a product of multiple filamentation through a mesh can be switched on and off with a very high contrast ratio on a femtosecond time scale. This phenomenon can find applications such as ultrafast optical switch and high-speed sampling. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

A uniform 290 nm periodic square structure on ZnO fabricated by two-beam femtosecond laser ablation

A uniform submicron periodic square structure was fabricated on the surface of ZnO by a technique of two linearly polarized femtosecond laser beams with orthogonal polarizations ablating material alternately. The formed two-dimensional ordering submicron structure consists of close-packed submicron squares with a spacial periodicity of 290 nm, which arises from the intercrossing of two orthogonal submicron ripple structures induced by the two beams respectively. The result demonstrates a noninterference effect of two-beam ablation based on the alternate technique, which should come from the polarization-dependent enhancement of the subwavelength ripple structure and the large interval of two alternate pulses. This two-beam alternate ablation technique is expected to open up prospects for the submicron fabrication of wide-bandgap materials.

Laser cooling of rubidium atoms from background vapor in diffuse light

In this paper we describe an experiment on laser cooling of Rb-87 atoms directly from a vapor background in diffuse light. Diffuse light is produced in a ceramic integrating sphere by multiple scattering of two laser beams injected through multimode fibers. A probe beam, whose propagation direction is either horizontal or vertical, is used to detect cold atoms. We measured the absorption spectra of the cold atoms by scanning the frequency of the probe beam, and observed both the absorption signal and the time of flight signal after we switched off the cooling light, from which we estimated the temperature and the number of cold atoms. This method is clearly attractive for building a compact cold atom clock.

Red laser-induced domain inversion in MgO-doped lithium niobate crystals

A laser beam at wavelength 647 nm is focused on a sample of 5 mol% MgO-doped lithium niobate crystal for domain inversion by a conventional external electric field. In this case, a reduction of 36% in the electric field required for domain nucleation (nucleation field) is observed. To the best of our knowledge, it is the longest wavelength reported for laser-induced domain inversion. This extends the spectrum of laser inducing, and the experimental results are helpful to understand the nucleation dynamics under laser illumination. The dependence of nucleation fields on intensities of laser beams is analysed in experiments.