Effects of Different Laser Pulse Regimes (Nanosecond, Picosecond and Femtosecond) on the Ablation of Materials for Production of Nanoparticles in Liquid Solution

Abstract

Ultra-short laser pulse interaction with materials has received much attention from researchers in micro-and nanomachining, especially for the generation of nanoparticles in liquid environments, because of the straightforward method and direct application for organic solvents. In addition, the colloidal nanoparticles produced by laser ablation have very high purity-they are free from surfactants and reaction products or by-products. In this chapter, nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond laser pulse durations are compared in laser material processing. Due to the unique properties of the short and ultra-short laser pulse durations in material processing, they are more apparent in the production of precision material processing and generation of nanoparticles in liquid environments.

Probing neuronal functions with precise and targeted laser ablation in the living cortex

“…In contrast, the amplified femtosecond laser can generate a single pulse with enough power (20,000 times higher than that of Ti:sapphire laser) to ablate targeted cells without the need of continuous illumination(Krüger and Kautek, 2012; Strickland and Mourou, 1985). Previous studies have used such amplified femtosecond laser to cut the axons of worms(Bourgeois and Ben-Yakar, 2008; Chung and Mazur, 2009; Gabel et al, 2008; Guo et al, 2008; Morris et al, 2013; Wu et al, 2007; Yanik et al, 2004), ablate cells in cultures(Hamad, 2016)(Watanabe et al, 2004)and brain slices(Tsai et al, 2009), and model stroke by occluding cerebral vessels in vivo (Blinder et al, 2012; Nishimura et al, 2007, 2006; Tsai et al, 2003). However, it has not been used for ablating individual cells in the brain in a spatia-temporal controlled manner.…”

“…The success of the AFL-TPM system depends on the high peak power of each pulse to induce necessary nonlinear absorption, while maintaining adequately low average powers to avoid linear heating(Tsai et al, 2009). In addition, the shorter pulse duration can lead to larger peak power under a constant pulse energy(Hamad, 2016). Because the pulse of amplified femtosecond laser we used (35 fs, Supplementary Fig.…”

“…The amplified femtosecond laser generated by chirped pulse amplification (CPA) technology can achieve a high pulse power (∼0.3 mJ) with a low repetition rate (up to tens of kHz)(Krüger and Kautek, 2012; Strickland and Mourou, 1985) and ablate targeted cells rapidly without linear heat accumulation(Tsai et al, 2009). With those advantages, this amplified femtosecond laser has been performed to cut the axons of worms(Bourgeois and Ben-Yakar, 2008; Chung and Mazur, 2009; Gabel et al, 2008; Guo et al, 2008; Morris et al, 2013; Wu et al, 2007; Yanik et al, 2004), model stroke by insulting the subsurface cortical vasculatures(Blinder et al, 2012; Nishimura et al, 2007, 2006; Tsai et al, 2003), and ablate cells in cultures(Hamad, 2016) or brain slices(Tsai et al, 2009). However, due to the lacking of precise power and position control, the amplified femtosecond laser has not been demonstrated for ablating individual neurons and their processes in the living brain.…”

Laser-induced ablation of tantalum in a wide range of pulse durations

“…This expulsion of the melt lowers the precision, when the data from the ablation yield shell be used for information on the material content in the target as in our project. The timescale of the energy transfer between free electrons and the lattice is significantly longer than the pulse duration of these ultra-short laser pulses, which results in a considerably lower HAZ [26]. From the threshold analysis, we can observe a decreasing threshold fluence from 1.10 J/cm 2 for the ns-laser to 0.17 J/cm 2 for the fs-laser.…”

Navigation of Silver/Carbon Nanoantennas in Organic Fluids Explored by a Two-Wave Mixing

“…In contrast with nanosecond optical effects, ultrashort pulses can be suitable for observing ultrafast electronic nonlinearities, but the modeling of thermal mechanisms that can be induced by picosecond and femtosecond pulses, which is more complex for describing photothermal energy transfer. Nanosecond pulses involve enough time for thermal transport while the photoinduced effects correspond to a collective response exhibited by nanofluids deposited in thicker samples [ 41 ]. The potential to excite stronger nonlinear optical absorption effects closer to the absorption band of the surface plasmon resonance of the Ag NPs can be expected by using the third-harmonic of our Nd:YAG laser system [ 42 ]; but this consideration is also correlated with a potential inhibition in the nonlinear optical refraction effects according to Kramers-Kroning relations.…”