Laser-induced Temperature Profiles Research Articles

Reconstruction of laser-induced microstructures temperature profiles

Metallic microstructures are currently widely used in micro-optoelectronics, sensorics, microfluidics, and other applications. A promising direction in the creation of such microstructures is pulsed laser processing of thin metal films. To improve laser technologies and simulate ongoing processes, data on the temperature fields that arise during laser exposure are needed. The article shows that the temperature distribution on the surface of a material during pulsed laser heating can be obtained from optical, scanning electron or atomic force micrographs. The proposed approach opens up the possibility of estimating temperature fields from archival photographs of various microstructures.

Temperature Depth Profiles Induced in Human Skin In Vivo Using Pulsed 975 nm Irradiation.

The aim of this study was to determine the temperature depth profiles induced in human skin in vivo by using a pulsed 975 nm diode laser (with 5 ms pulse duration) and compare them with those induced by the more common 532 nm (KTP) and 1,064 nm (Nd:YAG) lasers. Quantitative assessment of the energy deposition characteristics in human skin at 975 nm should help design of safe and effective treatment protocols when using such lasers. Temperature depth profiles induced in the human skin by the three lasers were determined using pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR). This technique involves time-resolved measurement of mid-infrared emission from the irradiated test site and reconstruction of the laser-induced temperature profiles using an earlier developed optimization algorithm. Measurements were performed on volar sides of the forearms in seven volunteers with healthy skin. At irradiation spot diameters of 3-4 mm, the radiant exposures were 0.24, 0.36, and 5.7 J/cm2 for the 975, 532, and 1,064 nm lasers, respectively. Upon normalization to the same radiant exposure of 1 J/cm 2 , the assessed maximum temperature rise in the epidermis averaged 0.8 °C for the 975 nm laser, 7.4 °C for the 532 nm, and 0.6 °C for the 1,064 nm laser. The characteristic subsurface depth to which 50% of the absorbed laser energy was deposited was on average 0.31 mm at 975 nm irradiation, and slightly deeper at 1,064 nm, and 0.15 mm at 532 nm. The experimentally obtained relations were reproduced in a dedicated numerical simulation. The assessed energy deposition characteristics show that the pulsed 975 nm diode laser is very suitable for controlled heating of the upper dermis as required, for example, for nonablative skin rejuvenation. The risks of nonselective overheating of the epidermis and subcutis are significantly reduced in comparison with irradiation at 532 and 1,064 nm, respectively. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Experimental studies of nitromethane flames and evaluation of kinetic mechanisms

The present work reports new experimental data for premixed flames of nitromethane, CH3NO2, at atmospheric pressure, and an evaluation of two contemporary kinetic mechanisms based on these new flame studies as well as previously published experimental data on laminar burning velocity and ignition. Flames of nitromethane + air at lean (ϕ = 0.8) and rich (ϕ = 1.2) conditions were stabilized on a flat-flame burner, where profiles of CH2O, CO and NO were obtained using laser-induced fluorescence and temperature profiles using coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy. Laminar burning velocities for nitromethane + O2 + CO2 were measured using the heat flux method for ϕ = 0.8–1.3 at 348 K and ϕ = 0.8–1.6 at 358 K, and an oxidizer composition of 35% O2 and 65% CO2. In addition, the effect of the oxidizer composition was examined for a stoichiometric flame at 358 K by varying oxygen fraction from 30% to 40%. The mechanism by Mathieu et al. (Fuel 2016, 182, 597), previously not validated for flames, was able to reproduce experimental laminar burning velocities for nitromethane + air, but under predicted new results for CH3NO2 + O2 + CO2 mixtures. The mechanism by Brequigny et al. (Proc. Combust. Inst. 2014, 35, 703) under predicted experimental laminar burning velocities significantly at all investigated conditions. Previous studies have shown that none of the mechanisms can accurately predict ignition delay time over a wide range of conditions with respect to pressure, temperature, diluent and dilution ratio. The evaluation of the mechanisms reveals that the understanding of nitromethane combustion is at the present time not sufficient to produce a widely applicable mechanism.

Influence of the Sampling Rate and Noise Characteristics on Prediction of the Maximal Safe Laser Exposure in Human Skin Using Pulsed Photothermal Radiometry

Pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR) allows for noninvasive determination of the laser-induced temperature depth profile in strongly scattering samples, including human skin. In a recent experimental study, we have demonstrated that such information can be used to derive rather accurate predictions of the maximal safe radiant exposure on an individual patient basis. This has important implications for efficacy and safety of several laser applications in dermatology and aesthetic surgery, which are often compromised by risk of adverse side effects (e.g., scarring, and dyspigmentation) resulting from nonselective absorption of strong laser light in epidermal melanin. In this study, the differences between the individual maximal safe radiant exposure \((H_{\mathrm{max}})\) values as predicted from PPTR temperature depth profiling performed using a commercial mid-IR thermal camera (as used to acquire the original patient data) and our customized PPTR setup are analyzed. To this end, the latter has been used to acquire 17 PPTR records from three healthy volunteers, using 1 ms laser irradiation at 532 nm and a signal sampling rate of 20 000 \(\mathrm{s}^{-1}\). The laser-induced temperature profiles are reconstructed first from the intact PPTR signals, and then by binning the data to imitate the lower sampling rate of the IR camera (1000 fps). Using either the initial temperature profile in a dedicated numerical model of heat transfer or protein denaturation dynamics, the predicted levels of epidermal thermal damage \((\varOmega )\) and the corresponding \(H_{\mathrm{max}}\) are compared. A similar analysis is performed also with regard to the differences between noise characteristics of the two PPTR setups.

Time-resolved mirage method: A three-dimensional theory and experiments

A general time-resolved three-dimensional theory of the photothermal beam deflection for the measurement of thermal properties of opaque materials is presented. We derive the analytical solutions for the laser induced temperature profiles in the sample and in the fluid above the sample assuming flux discontinuity at the interface sample/fluid. We compare the analytical solutions with all numerical modeling using finite element analysis. The photothermal deflection signal is calculated and an expression is provided for the transverse photothermal signal at a position-sensing detector. We use the model and the experimental method to investigate opaque plastic and metals, and the results for the thermal properties of the samples are in an excellent agreement in the literature values.

Spectral filtering in pulsed photothermal temperature profiling of collagen tissue phantoms

We present an experimental comparison of pulsed photothermal (PPT) profiling in collagen-based tissue phantoms utilizing different midinfrared spectral bands. Laser-induced temperature profiles are reconstructed using a custom optimization code within the customary monochromatic approximation. Both experimental results and a detailed numerical simulation of the procedure demonstrate that, despite the associated reduction of signal-to-noise ratio, appropriate spectral filtering reduces the broadening of temperature peaks and thus improves the accuracy of temperature profiling. For our experimental system, best performance is obtained when applying a long-pass filter with cut-on wavelength at 3.4-3.8 microm. Because our collagen gel mimics infrared and thermal properties of human skin, we believe that this conclusion is transferrable to PPT radiometric profiling of human skin in vivo.

Top-hat cw laser induced thermal mirror: a complete model for material characterization

A complete theoretical model is presented for the thermal mirror technique under top-hat laser excitation. Considering the attenuation of the top-hat excitation laser intensity along the thickness of a sample due to its optical absorption coefficient, we calculate the laser-induced temperature and surface deformation profiles. A simplified theoretical model for a high absorption sample is also developed. The center intensity of a probe beam reflected from the thermal mirror at a detector plane is derived. Numerical simulation shows that the thermal mirror under the top-hat laser excitation is as sensitive as that under Gaussian laser excitation. With top-hat laser excitation, the experimental results of thermo-physical properties of opaque samples are found to be well consistent with literature values, validating the theory.

Laser rapid thermal annealing of quantum semiconductor wafers: a one step bandgap engineering technique

We report on a new Laser Rapid Thermal Annealing (Laser-RTA) technique for one-step bandgap engineering at selected areas of quantum semiconductor wafers. The technique is based on using a 150 W 980 nm fiber coupled laser diode and a 30 W TEM00 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser for background heating and ‘writing’, respectively, the regions of the quantum well intermixed (QWI) material. The implementation of a 3D Finite Element Method for modeling of laser induced temperature profiles allows for the design of processing schemes that are required for accurate bandgap engineering at the wafer level. We demonstrate that arbitrary shaped lines of the QWI material can be fabricated with the Laser-RTA technique in InGaAs/InGaAsP quantum well microstructures.

Spectral filtering for improved pulsed photothermal temperature profiling in agar tissue phantoms

We present a systematic experimental comparison of pulsed photothermal temperature profiling utilizing the customary spectral band of the InSb radiation detector (lambda=3.0 to 5.6 microm) and a narrowed acquisition band (4.5 to 5.6 microm). We use custom tissue phantoms composed of agar gel layers separated by thin absorbing layers. The laser-induced temperature profiles are reconstructed within the customary monochromatic approximation, using a custom minimization algorithm. In a detailed numerical simulation of the experimental procedure, we consider several acquisition spectral bands with the lower wavelength limit varied between 3.0 and 5.0 microm (imitating application of different long-pass filters). The simulated PPTR signals contain noise with amplitude and spectral characteristics consistent with our experimental system. Both experimental and numerical results indicate that spectral filtering reduces reconstruction error and broadening of temperature peaks, especially for shallower and more complex absorbing structures. For the simulated PPTR system and watery tissues, numerical results indicate an optimal lower wavelength limit of 3.8 to 4.2 microm.

C O 2 laser induced temperature profiles in n-GaAs: An analytical model probed with the Seebeck effect

An analytic model describing the distribution of the electron temperature created by absorption of an optical beam with a cylindrical symmetry in a layered structure was developed. Main attention was paid to the contribution of the lattice heating in the stationary and nonstationary regimes. It was shown that both the spatial distribution of the incident stationary beam and the temporal distribution of the incident pulses can be retrieved from the spatial and temporal electron temperature dependences near the illuminated surface. Electron temperature distributions can be measured using the thermoelectric effect. Experimental results of the spatial and temporal measurements of the thermoelectric voltage were compared with the theoretical calculations and a satisfactory agreement between experimental and theoretical results was found near the incident beam center for the quasistationary regime. The experimentally derived Seebeck detector’s responsivity equals 17.5μV∕Wcm−2.

Thermal Modeling of Grooved Phase Change Optical Recording Disk

A new method of studying the laser induced temperature profiles of a multi-layered phase change optical disk is applied to the deep groove disk structure for the first time. The new model takes into consideration the thermal effects generated by both the incident and reflected light. Three-dimensional finite-element modelling and analyses of the new thermal model were carried out using commercial finite-element software MSC/PATRAN and ABAQUS. The calculated temperature differences between the new and the existing model are compared for grooves of depth 80 and 180 nm. Results showed that the reflected light gave rise to a significant temperature difference, especially in the deeper groove. Reduction of cross-erasure in adjacent tracks in a grooved phase change disk structure by using the deep groove method was also investigated. Findings showed that the reflected laser light gave rise to a significant temperature rise at the adjacent track.

Laser-induced temperature profiles in complex substrates

Scanning CW laser-induced temperature rise in anistropic and multilayer substrates has been investigated by simplifying and solving the dynamic heat equation. It is found that the heat equation in anisotropic media can be simplified to a heat equation in isotropic media by coordinate transformation. The anisotropy of the media can then be reflected by heat source transformation. In multilayer substrate with periodic structures, the substrate can be equivalent to a homogeneous substrate with anisotropic thermal conductivity, if the dimension of the periodic structure is much smaller than the laser spot size. The laser-induced temperature rise can then be obtained by solving the three-dimensional heat equation with the different thermal conductivities in directions parallel and perpendicular to the layer structure. Analytical models were derived to calculate the scanning laser-induced temperature rise in anisotropic and multilayer substrates.

In Situ Time-Resolved Reflectivity Measurements of Growth Kinetics During Solid Phase Epitaxy: A Tool To Estimate Interface Non Planarity During Growth

ABSTRACTThe time resolved reflectivity technique is shown to give informations on the amorphous-crystalline interface evolution during solid phase epitaxial (SPE) regrowth in semiconductors. Two specific cases have been treated here. The first case is encountered in laser annealing when the growth front exhibits a curvature due to the combination of an inhomogeneous temperature distribution and a steep dependence of SPE growth rates with temperature. A computer simulation is carried out from an analytical determination of the laser induced temperature profiles to shape up the resultinq reflectivity signal. The second case is obtained when there is an evolution of interface roughness during regrowth. In order to simulate this effect a simple model is developed to treat the influence of diffusion of the reflected light at the interface, on the reflectivity modulation during SPE regrowth.