Materials processing with a tightly focused femtosecond laser vortex pulse.
In this Letter we present the first (to our knowledge) demonstration of material modification using tightly focused single femtosecond laser vortex pulses. Double-charge femtosecond vortices were synthesized with a polarization-singularity beam converter based on light propagation in a uniaxial anisotropic medium and then focused using moderate- and high-NA optics (viz., NA=0.45 and 0.9) to ablate fused silica and soda-lime glass. By controlling the pulse energy, we consistently machine micrometer-size ring-shaped structures with <100nm uniform groove thickness.
Hnatovsky
Cyril
C
Laser Physics Centre, Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University,Canberra Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia. chn111@physics.anu.edu.au
Shvedov
Vladlen G
VG
Krolikowski
Wieslaw
W
Rode
Andrei V
AV
D016880:Anisotropy; D004867:Equipment Design; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D007834:Lasers; D008027:Light; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
D012822:Silicon Dioxide