Multipulse Laser Irradiation Research Articles

Analysis method of point defects evolution in fused silica under multi-pulse nanosecond laser irradiation.

Although no optically visible damage is produced in the fused silica under laser irradiation below its laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT), defect proliferation may occur due to the evolution of its internal atomic structure. The escalation in defect content leads to heightened absorption, and resulting in the degradation of the optical performance of the optics. In recent decades, there have been a lot of experimental studies on laser-induced damage and laser conditioning, but there is still a great lack of in-depth understanding and theoretical analysis of the evolution process of point defects in fused silica. In this study, the emphasis is on the evolution of point defects and fatigue damage in fused silica under multi-pulse nanosecond laser irradiation. To address this, a point-defect evolution model is developed, and the coupled evolution law of temperature and defect during laser irradiation is derived by integrating it with a numerical model. The results demonstrate that the model effectively predicts the defect evolution of fused silica under laser irradiation and facilitates the prediction of fatigue damage. It is revealed that the rate of defect evolution in fused silica is more influenced by temperature than stress, and a temperature threshold can be used to judge the condition of damage occurrence. Furthermore, through an analysis of the effect of laser fluence on defect relaxation rate, a defect relaxation method employing variable laser fluence was proposed. This study provides a reliable theoretical analysis method for understanding the fatigue damage induced by multi-pulse laser irradiation in fused silica and offers a new perspective for the annealing treatment of point defects in fused silica.

Experimental investigation on the transient vascular thermal response to laser irradiation by a high-speed infrared thermal camera

Based on the photothermal effect, laser can be used to treat vascular diseases (VD) in clinic of dermatology and ophthalmology. Transient vascular thermal response to laser irradiation during millisecond laser pulse is the key phenomenon in treatment process, which has not been carefully investigated before. In this study, target blood vessels in dorsal skin chamber (DSC) animal model were irradiated by a pulsed 532 nm diode laser and a 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser. The directed thermal responses (temperature variation) were recorded by a high-speed infrared thermal camera with a repetition rate of 1000 Hz. The temperature variation during and after single pulse irradiation and multipulse irradiation were investigated. The variation of blood absorption coefficient was explored based on the temperature increment in each laser pulse. The thermal properties of dorsal skin, especially the thermal diffusivity, were evaluated based on the temperature decay after each laser pulse. The interfacial heat transfer between the blood and the surroundings was also calculated based on the thermal images and compared to the correlation proposed before. The results show that the blood absorption to laser will increase by a maximum of 1.9 immediately after blood temperature exceeds threshold value, e.g., 68oC in both single pulse (pulse duration >100 ms) and multi-pulse laser irradiation. The tissue optical properties (thermal diffusivity) keep almost constant after millisecond laser heating. Also, a general correlation for interfacial heating transfer between blood and surroundings was developed, in which the influences of vessel shape and laser wavelength are incorporated. The interfacial heat transfer between blood and surrounding can be accurately quantified.

Controlled photothermal ablative processing of commercial polymers minimizing undesired thermal effects under high frequency femtosecond laser irradiation

The response of three commercial polymers (poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polypropylene (PP)) with different thermal properties under high repetition rates (1 kHz-1 MHz) with femtosecond (450 fs) multi-pulse laser irradiation at λ = 515 nm (1.4 J/cm2) is reported resulting in a complete study with controlling the ablation depth and minimizing collateral thermal effects. Tunable ablation depth is achieved accurately by varying the repetition rate at a constant fluence. The results are compared to a photothermal model that aims at explaining the heat accumulation effect of successive pulses as a function of the repetition rate and predicts three different heat regimes (non-cumulative, cumulative and saturation). The threshold frequencies for each regime can be estimated from the model, providing control for selecting frequency values and thermal regimes. Thermal analyses are performed to characterize the materials, concluding that thermal parameters are vital for selecting optimal materials and laser processing parameters.

Damage analysis and mechanism study of sol–gel coating over KDP crystal under multi-pulse of laser irradiation at low flux

The purpose of this study is to analyze the damage of antireflective (AR) coating over potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystal subjected to multi-pulse laser irradiation at low flux under vacuum. Fresh silica AR was characterized as a reference; Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), profilometer, and Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope Photo-induced Force Microscope (SNOM-PiFM) were employed to analyze the characteristics of coatings. The experimental results indicated that the damage of AR coating over the KDP crystal was mainly caused by partial exfoliation, which exposed silica particles beneath the surface. It was found that the accumulated tensile stress led to coating damage with the increase of laser pulse. The initial coating damage was observed to extend and interconnect to form large-area exfoliation. Splitting mechanism of SiO–Si TO3 was observed at vibration mode peaks of 1064 cm−1 and 1096 cm−1showing progressing irradiation damage. Based on this study, it would be helpful to suppress the damage probability of AR coating over KDP crystal applied in high-power laser systems. Moreover, the applicability of SNOM-PiFM method to study the Infrared Radiation (IR) spectra of ultra-thin coatings with transparent substrates was proposed.

레이저 유도 전사를 이용한 유연기판의 액체금속 미세 패터닝

We have developed a direct conductive patterning method with micro-scale line widths using the laser-induced-forward transfer (LIFT) and liquid metal. As this method does not need post-thermal processing, there is no thermal damage even on heat-sensitive polymer substrates by low-power laser irradiation on the dynamic release layer (DRL). Unlike other liquid metal patterning processes, this procedure can easily achieve fine line widths of a few tens of micrometers corresponding to laser spot size. The solid-state UV pulse laser with 266 nm wavelength and 20 ns pulse duration was used to transfer Eutectic Gallium Indium (EGaIn) liquid metal and the results for the single and multi-pulse laser irradiation were investigated to determine the effective process conditions. The applicability of flexible circuit fabrication and selective circuit repair was successfully tested on Polyimide (PI) substrate. After the LIFT process, the electrical properties of liquid metal on the pattern were measured to be approximately 5~8 x 10SUP-3/SUP Ω/m of resistance.

Cleavage-Driven Laser Writing in Monocrystalline Diamond

The propagation of graphitization wave through the diamond bulk under multipulse laser irradiation is a largely self-guided process. This fact assists the production of graphitized wires oriented along a laser beam and greatly complicates formation of the structures oriented differently. Here, we develop new approaches to control laser graphitization that should empower the potential of 3D laser microstructuring inside a diamond crystal. Two techniques are investigated: (i) a laser seed damage of crystal with subsequent exposure at a lower laser fluence, thus restricting the propagation of the graphitization wave toward the beam and (ii) formation of a dominant microfracture perpendicular to the laser beam, thus guiding growth of the graphitized thread.

Experimental study of combined photodynamic and photothermal therapy in the treatment of port wine stain.

Laser therapy has become the golden standard of port wine stain (PWS), but complete clearance of resistant PWSs is still difficult. The application of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of PWS shows potential in clinical practice, especially for large-area and deep lesions. In this work, in vivo animal experimental investigation on the coupling effect of PDT with multi-pulse laser (MPL) irradiation on the treatment of PWS was conducted by using a dorsal skin window chamber model. Through visualization of the thermal response of blood vessels and damage evaluation, it is found that the combination of PDT with MPL results in 96.2% more vascular injury than PDT alone and 90% more than MPL alone, thus reducing side effects such as purpura after treatment. The combined therapy also has the benefit of large treatment area, uniform fading effect, shortened light duration, and reduced photosensitizer admit.

Electric field analysis coupled with the two-temperature model to elucidate the generation process of laser-induced periodic surface structure

A fundamental study of the mechanisms of generation of the laser-induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) includes electromagnetic deposition theories and matter reorganization theories. The proposed two-dimensional finite element model incorporates frequency-domain electric field analysis and the two-temperature model (TTM) to simulate the growth process of LIPPS in multi-pulse picosecond laser irradiation. The proposed simulation proceeds as follows: the electric field intensity (EFI) distribution is calculated by referring to the material surface morphology and determines heat distribution by the electromagnetic heating (EMH); the heat distribution is introduced into the TTM to calculate the electron and lattice temperatures; by comparing the lattice and the vaporization temperature, material ablation is determined to obtain a new surface topography and single-pulse simulation completes; and by introducing the new surface topography recursively, multi-pulse laser irradiation can be simulated. In the calculation of a picosecond laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm, pulse duration of 20 ps and different laser fluences for the irradiation of the Ti6Al4V alloy surface, this method could simulate the ripple-like distributed EFI, and a surface morphology similar to that of LIPSS grew after several pulses. The results were in agreement with the observed experimental results. The proposed assumption is a novel approach for the explanation of the LIPSS generation mechanism. • Multi-pulse picosecond laser-induced periodic surface structure generation studied. • The 2D model fuses electric field intensity distribution and two-temperature model. • Multi-pulse ablations modeled under various laser fluences and pulse number. • Experimental and simulation results (surface morphology and pitch distance) agree.

Analytical 3D modeling of accumulative heating under multipulse laser irradiation of inorganic materials and biological tissues

• Analysis of accumulative 3D heating by laser pulses using Green's function method. • Accumulative heating under the pulse-periodic action of three types of heat sources. • Dynamics of residual temperature of titanium, monocrystalline silicon, dry bone. • Results useful for optimization of technological regimes of irradiation. In this paper, using analytical methods of the theory of thermal conductivity, the issue of accumulative 3D heating under multipulse laser irradiation of inorganic materials and biological tissues is studied. For a number of practically important cases, comparatively simple analytical dependences of the residual temperature on the number of laser pulses and their repetition rate have been obtained. The limits of their applicability are discussed. Examples of the application of the developed theory for specific cases of pulse-periodic laser irradiation of various materials, in particular, titanium, monocrystalline silicon, and bone tissue, are demonstrated.

A novel method for fabricating micro-dimple arrays with good surface quality on metallic glass substrate by combining laser irradiation and mechanical polishing under wax sealing

Surface micro-patterning is an emerging technique to endow a wide range of materials with specific functions, such as superhydrophobicity and anti-reflection, but it is still technically challenging and inordinately expensive via existing manufacturing approaches. Compared with crystalline metals, metallic glasses (MGs) are talented with some unique mechanical and chemical properties due to their isotropic internal structure. Here, a novel two-step method, involving nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation and mechanical polishing, was proposed to fabricate micro-dimple arrays with good surface quality on the MG substrate. In the first step, multi-pulse laser irradiation experiments were performed to study the correlation between the peak laser power intensity and the feature sizes of the micro-dimple (i.e. the depth and diameter of the micro-dimple as well as the height of the pile-up), and then various micro-dimple arrays were fabricated on the MG substrate by adjusting the peak laser power intensity and the interval between adjacent laser shots. Subsequently, aiming at improving the surface quality, the micro-dimple arrays were mechanically polished under wax sealing. The experimental results indicated that after polishing, the pile-ups around the micro-dimples were completely removed, and at the same time, the surface quality of their inner walls was improved. Furthermore, based on experimental results, the possible material removal mechanism during polishing was discussed. This study provides a convenient method to fabricate micro-dimple arrays with good surface quality on the MG substrate, which would be one of the potential alternatives for large-area, low-cost micro/nano-manufacturing.

Dynamic evolution of keyhole during multi-pulse drilling with a millisecond laser on 304 stainless steel

The efficiency of millisecond laser drilling is high due to the molten material ejection, and is applied in many industries like aerospace, automobile and electronics. However, there may be some defects such as hole blockage, low machining accuracy and low repeatability, especially for the process of multi-pulse drilling. The melt flow remaining inside keyhole due to inefficient ejection, is responsible for the formation of those defects. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the dynamic behavior of melt flow during multi-pulse drilling. In this paper, the dynamic evolution of keyhole is investigated combining in-situ observation and numerical simulation methods. According to the ejection efficiency, the multi-pulse drilling process can be divided into three periods, namely rapid drilling period, linear drilling period, and moderate drilling period. The melt flow behaves differently in each period. In rapid drilling period, a conical keyhole is formed in the end. The melt flow behavior is affected dominantly by the recoil pressure when the laser is on and by the surface tension when the laser is off. In linear drilling period, the blocked keyhole occurs occasionally. The melt flow behavior is affected by gravity and recoil pressure when the laser is on and by the surface tension and recoil pressure when the laser is off. In moderate drilling period, the keyhole profile is wavy. The melt flow behavior is affected by surface tension and recoil pressure dominantly during the whole period. The melt flow transition and its influence factors are investigated in this paper, which is helpful for understanding the physical processes during the multi-pulse laser irradiation process.

Time-resolved holographic study of laser-induced fatigue in bulk of sapphire and fused silica

In this work, the fatigue effect caused by multi-pulse laser irradiation in bulk of transparent optical medium for ultrashort pulses is investigated. Time-resolved digital holography is used as a sensitive tool for quantifying changes in material response below single-shot damage threshold. In case of two investigated fused quartz samples the survivable dose is limited by increase in the yield of free electrons and self-trapped exciton densities with number of expositions prior to damage formation. Meanwhile, no change was detected in free electron plasma for sapphire before multi-pulse damage which lead to nondeterministic damage. It was estimated that optical damage could form bellow critical plasma density for all samples. The data on low energy irradiation and damage morphology suggest a strong contribution from defects to the initiation of multi-pulse optical damage in bulk media.

Periodic Relief Fabrication and Reversible Phase Transitions in Amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Films upon Multi-Pulse Femtosecond Irradiation

Ge2Sb2Te5 based devices attract the attention of researchers due to wide opportunities in designing phase change memory. Herein, we studied a possibility to fabricate periodic micro- and nanorelief at surfaces of Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films on silicon oxide/silicon substrates under multi-pulse femtosecond laser irradiation with the wavelength of 1250 nm. One-dimensional lattices with periods of 1250 ± 90 and 130 ± 30 nm were obtained depending on the number of acted laser pulses. Emergence of these structures can be explained by plasmon-polariton generation and laser-induced hydrodynamic instabilities, respectively. Additionally, formation of the lattices whose spatial period is close to the impacted laser wavelength can be modelled by considering the free carrier contribution under intensive photoexcitation. Raman spectroscopy revealed both crystallization and re-amorphization of the irradiated films. The obtained results show a possibility to fabricate rewritable all-dielectric data-storage devices based on Ge2Sb2Te5 with the periodic relief.

Ultrashort pulsed laser ablation of zirconia-alumina composites for implant applications

• Influence of alumina content on fs-laser machining of zirconia-alumina composites was studied. • Significant influence of material composition on material removal behavior was demonstrated. • Single phase materials have larger laser ablation thresholds and smaller material removal rate than their composites. • A lower scan speed is preferred for single phase materials while a higher scan speed is beneficial for the composites. Laser texturing of zirconia-alumina ceramics is a promising surface modification method for many applications, such as enhancing osseointegration of alumina toughened zirconia (ATZ) dental implants or improving friction behavior of zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) hip replacement bearing components. The common problems in laser texturing of ATZ/ZTA ceramics are thermal cracking, low material removal rate (MRR), and laser-induced phase transformation (LIPT). Furthermore, the compositional variation of those ceramics will complicate these problems. In order to improve the manufacturing processability, ultrashort pulsed laser ablation behavior of ATZ/ZTA composites was investigated in this research. Single phase zirconia and alumina were found to have smaller MRRs than their composites, and this behavior was negatively correlated to the materials single-pulse laser ablation threshold. However, under multi-pulse laser irradiation, the ablation thresholds of all materials saturated to the same level, indicating that single phase materials were more sensitive to the incubation effect than their composites. This led to the MRRs of the single phase materials being reduced at larger scan speeds, while the MRRs of their composites remained independent of scan speed. It was also shown that single phase materials were less susceptible to thermal cracking than their composites under excessive heat accumulation. These results suggest that a lower scan speed is preferred for single phase materials in order to achieve a larger MRR, while a higher scan speed is beneficial for the composites for suppressing thermal cracking without compromising ablation efficiency. In addition, no LIPT was detected for zirconia dominated materials after laser ablation.

Analysis of gas bubble formation on light-absorbing microinclusion in liquid during laser irradiation: experimental and theoretical investigation

A simplified theoretical model that describes the formation of a gas bubble on a light-absorbing microinclusion in liquid during laser irradiation is presented. The experimental results of irradiation of agglomerates of carbon black nanoparticles with nanosecond laser pulses in distilled water and aqueous solution of glycerol are obtained. The satisfactory correspondence between the experimental and theoretical results is achieved at low values of the microinclusion light absorptivity and can be associated with additional light scattering caused both by the formation of the gas bubble during the laser pulse action and by the phenomenon of critical opalescence in the superheated liquid. With the increase in the laser fluence against the background of the formation of the small-sized gas bubbles, the large-sized gas bubbles appear, which qualitatively agrees with the dependence of gas bubble size on the laser fluence. In case of multipulse laser irradiation, heat accumulation contributes to more uniform distribution of the gas bubbles’ size. The investigated regularities can be used for optimization of the laser parameters in biomedical and other laser applications.

Thermal coagulum formation and hemostasis during repeated multipulse Nd:YAG laser treatment of cutaneous vascular lesions: animal experiment study.

Laser therapy has been widely used to treat port-wine stain (PWS) and other cutaneous vascular lesions via selective photothermolysis. High incident laser fluence is always prohibited in clinic to prevent the thermal damage in normal skin tissue, leading to insufficient energy deposition on the target blood vessel and incomplete clearance of PWS lesion. In this study, repeated multipulse laser (RMPL) irradiation was proposed to induce acute thermal damage to target blood vessels with low incident fluence (40J/cm2 for 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser). The feasibility of the method was investigated using animal models. Repeated multipulse irradiation cycles with 10-min intervals were performed in RMPL. A hamster dorsal skin chamber model with a visualization system was constructed to investigate the instant generation of thermal coagulum and relevant hemostasis by thrombus formation during and after irradiation under 1064nm Nd:YAGsinglemultipulse laser (SMPL) and RMPLirradiation. The diameter of the target blood vessel and the size of thermal coagula were measured before and after laser irradiation. The reflectance spectra of the dorsal skin were measured by a reflectance spectrometer during RMPL. Stasis thermal coagula that clogged the vessel lumen were generated during SMPL irradiation with low incident fluence. However, there was no acute thermal damage of blood vessels. Reflectance spectra measurement showed that the generation of thermal coagula and subsequent thrombus formation increases blood absorption by more than 10% within the first 10min after laser irradiation. Acute vessel thermal damage could be induced in the target blood vessel by RMPL with low incident fluence of 40J/cm2. Compared with our previous SMPL study, nearly 30% reduction in incident laser fluence was achieved by RMPL. Low fluence RMPL may be a promising approach to improve the therapeutic outcome for patients with cutaneous vascular lesions by improving energy deposition on the target blood vessel.

Thermal accumulation effect of a three-junction GaAs cell with multipulse laser irradiation

A theoretical model on accumulation of temperature and stress in a three-junction GaAs solar cell is proposed to analyze its damage characteristics while irradiated by a multipulse laser. The distribution and accumulation effect of temperature and stress with different pulse widths are calculated. Specifically, the influences of pulse energy and duty ratio on the accumulation effect are discussed. Results show that the accumulation is weakened as pulse energy and duty ratio decrease and differ with the different pulse widths. The accumulation rate of stress is more rapid than that of temperature under nanosecond laser irradiation. Furthermore, tensile stress damage is the main damage form under nanosecond laser irradiation, and melting damage will change to main damage from a millisecond laser.

Multi-pulse laser irradiation of cadmium yellow paint films: the influence of binding medium and particle aggregates

Multi-pulse laser irradiation of cadmium yellow paint films: the influence of binding medium and particle aggregates

Generalized Plasmonic Modelling of the Effect of Refractive Index on Laser-Induced Periodic Nanostructures

Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) have been studied theoretically employing generalized plasmonic modelling on several dielectric materials such as SiO2, Al2O3, ZnO, AlAs and diamond exposed to 800 nm wavelength multi-pulse femtosecond laser irradiation. The study of the optical properties of the materials during laser irradiation reveals a formation of a metallic like pseudo-material on the irradiated layer during excitation. A study of the grating periodicity of the nanostructures shows that the materials having a high refraction index allow LIPSS formation with a wide range of grating periodicities. Results also show High Spatial Frequency LIPSS formation with periodicities 3 to 8 times lower than the laser wavelength.

Modeling for Copper Ablation by Ultrashort Laser Bursts-Train

Ablation of copper using multipulse femtosecond laser irradiation with an 800 nm wavelength and 900-fs pulse duration is investigated theoretically using a dynamic tow temperature model. Our results show that the irradiation of a metal film by burst femtosecond laser with a separation time between pulses less than the thermal relaxation time can dramatically enhance the irradiated focal volume without a significant dissipation of the energy inside the material. We demonstrate the advantage of burst irradiation at low fluence where the cooper can be ablated below single ablation threshold. We also suggest that at high fluence, irradiation with a burst-train may give rise to a cleaner ablation than with a pulse-train.