Regulating Morphology and Composition of Laser-Induced Periodic Structures on Titanium Films with Femtosecond Laser Wavelength and Ambient Environment

Abstract

Recently, highly uniform thermochemical laser-induced periodic surface structures (TLIPSS) have attracted significant research attention due to their practical applicability for upscalable fabrication of periodic surface morphologies important for surface functionalization, diffraction optics, sensors, etc. When processed by femtosecond (fs) laser pulses in oxygen-containing environments, TLIPSS are formed on the material surface as parallel protrusions upon local oxidation in the maxima of the periodic intensity pattern coming from interference of the incident and scattered waves. From an application point of view, it is important to control both the TLIPSS period and nanoscale morphology of the formed protrusions that can be expectedly achieved by scalable shrinkage of the laser-processing wavelength as well as by varying the ambient environment. However, so far, the fabrication of uniform TLIPSS was reported only for near-IR wavelength in air. In this work, TLIPSS formation on the surface of titanium (Ti) films was systematically studied using near-IR (1026 nm), visible (513 nm) and UV (256 nm) wavelengths revealing linear scalability of the protrusion period versus the fs-laser wavelength. By changing the ambient environment from air to vacuum (10−2 atm) and pressurized nitrogen gas (2.5 atm) we demonstrate tunability of the composition and morphology of the Ti TLIPSS protrusions. In particular, Raman spectroscopy revealed formation of TiN together with dominating TiO2 (rutile phase) in the TLIPSS protrusions produced in the nitrogen-rich atmosphere.

A Review of Effects of Femtosecond Laser Parameters on Metal Surface Properties

“…Studies have shown that laser peak fluence, the number of laser pulses, laser polari zation state, pulse duration, and the processing environment are all key parameters af fecting LIPSS [47][48][49][50][51][52].…”

Effect of Femtosecond Laser-Irradiated Titanium Plates on Enhanced Antibacterial Activity and Preservation of Bacteriophage Stability

“…However, laser processing at the nanometer scale is developing very rapidly [ 1 ]. Some examples of nanoscale laser processing include laser nanolithography [ 2 ], laser ablation for nanoparticle synthesis [ 3 ], and laser-induced surface modifications [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Among these techniques, laser-induced surface modifications offer precise control over surface relief and phase composition, thereby influencing a wide range of properties such as wettability, antimicrobial characteristics, and tribology.…”

Special Issue “Dynamics and Processes at Laser-Irradiated Surfaces—A Themed Issue in Honor of the 70th Birthday of Professor Jürgen Reif”

“…Our Special Issue attracted high-quality contributions from both academics and from industry and finally bundles together 1 review paper of Jürgen Reif [ 3 ], 1 perspective article [ 4 ], and 17 original research articles [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. These publications are focusing on the latest achievements in areas of laser–matter interaction [ 16 , 18 , 22 , 23 , 27 , 30 , 31 ], nonlinear optics and photonics [ 22 , 23 , 26 ], spatial beam shaping [ 15 , 28 ], surface dynamics [ 4 , 17 , 22 , 23 ], micro- and nanotechnology [ 16 , 18 , 20 , 24 , 26 , 27 , 31 ], laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) [ 3 , 4 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 27 ,…”