Florent Pigeon

Growth Twinning and Generation of High-Frequency Surface Nanostructures in Ultrafast Laser-Induced Transient Melting and Resolidification

The structural changes generated in surface regions of single crystal Ni targets by femtosecond laser irradiation are investigated experimentally and computationally for laser fluences that, in the multipulse irradiation regime, produce sub-100 nm high spatial frequency surface structures. Detailed experimental characterization of the irradiated targets combining electron back scattered diffraction analysis with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of multiple nanoscale twinned domains in the irradiated surface regions of single crystal targets with (111) surface orientation. Atomistic- and continuum-level simulations performed for experimental irradiation conditions reproduce the generation of twinned domains and establish the conditions leading to the formation of growth twin boundaries in the course of the fast transient melting and epitaxial regrowth of the surface regions of the irradiated targets. The observation of growth twins in the irradiated Ni(111) targets provides strong evidence of the role of surface melting and resolidification in the formation of high spatial frequency surface structures. This also suggests that the formation of twinned domains can be used as a sensitive measure of the levels of liquid undercooling achieved in short pulse laser processing of metals.

Analytical treatment of the thermal problem in axially pumped solid-state lasers

A complete analytical analysis of the temperature distribution in a laser rod in an axial pumping scheme is presented. The heat source distribution, as well as the front or side cooling means, have a circularly cylindrical symmetry. The longitudinal heat-source distribution is strongly inhomogeneous.

Self-organized growth of metallic nanoparticles in a thin film under homogeneous and continuous-wave light excitation

Using a monochromatic plane wave to generate periodic arrays of metallic nanoparticles with tunable features buried in thin films is the original work we report here. We focus on the way such waveguiding metallic photonic crystals can self-emerge from thin films homogeneously loaded with metallic precursors under continuous-wave and homogeneous laser excitation. This paper fully describes the conditions leading to the formation of periodic structures and highlights the role of several parameters in the underlying physical mechanisms. The laser exposure parameters, especially, fix the geometrical and optical properties of the generated structures. Grating lines are parallel to the laser polarization and the period is directly linked to the laser wavelength. Both electron resonances of metal nanoparticles and optical resonances of guided modes interact to form the periodic patterns under homogeneous exposure. A model, based on the coupled mode theory, can be proposed to predict the spontaneous generation of such periodic nanostructures. It concludes that the guided waves exponentially enhance during illumination due to a positive feedback loop with the ordered growth of particles. This process opens up new fabrication techniques for making optical devices and may find applications in various fields such as polarization imaging, displays, security or lighting.

Influence of crystal orientation on the formation of femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures and lattice defects accumulation

The influence of crystal orientation on the formation of femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) has been investigated on a polycrystalline nickel sample. Electron Backscatter Diffraction characterization has been exploited to provide structural information within the laser spot on irradiated samples to determine the dependence of LIPSS formation and lattice defects (stacking faults, twins, dislocations) upon the crystal orientation. Significant differences are observed at low-to-medium number of laser pulses, outstandingly for (111)-oriented surface which favors lattice defects formation rather than LIPSS formation.

Polarizing grating coupler for high Q laser cavities

A coupling grating made in the last high-index layer of a highly reflective multilayer laser output mirror, located at the outside of the laser cavity, induces a significant fall of the reflection coefficient for one of the polarizations. The lasing polarization does not suffer more than 0.1% scattering. The understanding of device operation revealed by experiments shows the way for achieving an industrial manufacturing scheme, despite the poor control which layer-deposition technologies presently have on the layer index and thickness separately.

Slab waveguide resonance monitoring by free space waves

A normalized slab waveguide analysis reveals a set of slab structures in which a desired propagation constant can be precisely assigned to a Transverse Magnetic (TM) mode by the sole monitoring of the optical thickness of the slab by a free space wave traversing it. This application potential of this unexpected property is evaluated.

Wafer scale submicron optical grating for the picometre measurement of aberrations and stitching errors in step and repeat cameras

A high-resolution diffractive measurement technique reveals that a wafer scale grating fabricated by an ASML PAS 5500 step and repeat camera exhibits a stitching error less than 10 nm and a variation of a nominally constant period of 1 μm of less than 20 pm.

Microelectronics planar technologies for the manufacturing of high spatial frequency gratings: sub-angstroem assessment of spatial coherence

The spatial coherence of optical gratings fabricated by means of a step & repeat camera is characterized by a diffractive interferometric displacement sensor using the grating under test as the grating scale. The displacement sensor head comprises two readout gratings at a definite distance from each other which allows the determination of the local deviation of the grating period with a resolution of 0.001 nanometer.

Bondability of processed glass wafers

The mechanism of direct bonding at room temperature has been attributed to the short range inter-molecular and inter-atomic attraction forces, such as Van der Waals forces. Consequently, the wafer surface smoothness becomes one of the most critical parameters in this process. High surface roughness will result in small real area of contact, and therefore yield voids in the bonding interface. Usually, the root mean square roughness (RMS) or the mean roughness (Ra) are used as parameters to evaluate the wafer bondability. It was found from experience that for a bondable wafer surface the mean roughness must be in the subnanometer range, preferentially less than 0.5 nm. When the surface roughness exceeds a critical value, the wafers will not bond at all. However RMS and Ra were found to be not sufficient for evaluating the wafer bondability. Hence one tried to relate wafer bonding to the spatial spectrum of the wafer surface profile and indeed some empirical relations that have been found. The first, who proposed a theory on the problem of the closing gaps between contacted wafers was Stengl. This gap-closing theory was then further developed by Tong and Gosele. The elastomechanics theory was used to study the balance between the decrease of surface energy due to the bonding and the increase of elastic energy due to the distortion of the wafer. They considered the worst case by assuming that both wafers have a waviness, with a wavelength (lambda) and a height amplitude h, resulting in a gap height of 2h in a head to head position. This theory is simple and can be used in practice, for studying the formation of the voids, or for constructing design rules for the bonding of deliberately structured wafers. But it is insufficient to know what is the real area of contact in the wafer interface after contact at room temperature because the wafer surface always possesses a random distribution of the surface topography. Therefore Gui developed a continuous model on the influence of the surface roughness to wafer bonding, that is based on a statistical surface roughness model Pandraud demonstrated experimentally that direct bonding between processed glass wafers is possible. This result cannot be explained by considering the RMS value of the surfaces only, because the wafers used show a RMS value larger than 1 nm. Based on the approach exposed in reference six, a rigorous analysis of wafer bonding of these processed glass wafers is presented. We will discuss the relation between the bonding process and different waveguide technologies used for implementing optical waveguides into one or both glass wafers, and give examples of optical devices benefiting from such a bonding process.

High precision and non obtrusive displacement measurement sensor for intelligent robots and systems

High resolution sensors based on the principle of diffractive interferometry can be miniaturized to a point where they can be used in robots and small electro-mechanical systems. A possible sensing configuration with related grating technology is demonstrated in the form of a compatible prototype capable of using a dedicated OptoASIC.