Quantized structuring of transparent film and plates with ultrfast laser interference and filamentation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Nano-structuring of materials is the basis of rapidly expanding application areas where ultrashort lasers are becoming a tool of choice with benefits of non-contact processing that precisely shape and pattern with very little residual damage. Short-pulsed lasers further underpin a unique capability for 3D structuring inside transparent glasses. In this direction, a new research project is proposed around our recent discovery of a novel laser interferometric interaction discovered in silicon-nitride film that underlies a new means for laser material nanostructuring. Here, optical interference fringes are formed parallel with the surface that for the first time can create thin laser plasma disks and form lateral modification zones, nanocavities, thin blisters and quantized ejection from interaction zones substantially narrower than is possible even when focusing with high resolution lenses. This new means of control has not been previously anticipated, and is especially attractive in high temperature dielectric media like optical films that find widespread use in processing microelectronic, optical, lab-on-chip, photonic, MEMs, and photovoltaic devices. The research program will improve our fundamental understanding of how the interference and other nonlinear processes such as self-channelling can play together in transparent films and plates and serve as a basis for developing new nano-optical devices and forming novel nanostructured glasses. Reproducible manufacturing methods are pursued with two industry partners in directions that include bio-inspired concepts to strengthen windows for low-weight sunroofs, invent new types of anti-reflection surfaces and compact microlens arrays, and provide three-dimensional volume texturing for improving adhesion, wetting, or biosensing. Alternatively, ultrathin membranes offer new ways to package materials or sense mechanical properties. Lastly, quantum laser interaction offers the opportunity for generating complex multi-layered nanofluidic networks inside thin film that may permit flexible lab-in-film devices to be integrated with smart phones, cameras or microelectronic chips.