title: Origin of periodicity in nanostructuring on thin film surfaces ablated with femtosecond laser pulses.
abstract: We report physical processes responsible for the periodic nanostructure formation in femtosecond-laser ablation of thin film surfaces. It has been found that an initial random distribution of nanoscale ablation traces is periodically structured with an increase in superimposed laser pulses or fluence on diamond-like carbon film used as the target. The results show that the formation of periodicity can be attributed to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons to induce the periodic enhancement of local fields in the surface layer. The estimated field period is in good agreement with the observed size of nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Laser Science Research Section, Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan. g-miyaji@iae.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Godai
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miyaji
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D004583:Electrons; D004867:Equipment Design; D007834:Lasers; D053758:Nanoparticles; D049329:Nanostructures; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D010507:Periodicity; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon