Rapid fabrication of pentaerythritol triacrylate periodic structures on large areas by laser interference patterning with nanosecond pulses

Abstract

We report on rapid fabrication of two-dimensional periodic structures in pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETIA) through laser interference patterning with 10 ns pulses from a frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser emitting at 355 nm. Different periodic arrays including line-, cross-, honeycomb-, and dotlike structures were fabricated using two and three interfering laser beams. The composition of the photoinitiator was changed from 2% to 15% w/w to determine the threshold laser fluences necessary to photopolymerize the PETIA solution. The effects of the PETIA layer thickness and periodic geometries on the mechanical stability of the fabricated structures as well as self-organization processes are reported.