Refine
Publication Type
- Article (1)
- Conference Proceeding (1)
Nanoscale hydrodynamic instability of ring-like molten rims around ablative microholes produced in nanometer-thick silver and gold films by tightly focused nanosecond (ns) laser pulses was experimentally explored in terms of laser pulse energy and film thickness. These parametric dependencies of basic instability characteristics - order and period of the resulting nanocrowns - were analyzed, revealing its apparently Rayleigh-Plateau character, as compared to much less consistent possible van der Waals and impact origins. Along with fundamental importance, these findings will put forward ns pulsed laser ablation as an alternative facile inexpensive table-top approach to study such hydrodynamic instabilities developing at ns temporal and nanometer spatial scales as well as to produce unique plasmon-active hierarchical surface morphologies applicable for chemo- and biosensing.
In this study, we use a hybrid mode-locked external cavity diode laser with subsequent amplification and pulse compression. The system provides laser pulses of 440 fs width (assuming a sech² pulse shape) and 160 mW average output power at a repetition rate of 383.1 MHz. The laser oscillator consists of a double quantum well laser diode with a gain segment of 1080 μm length and an absorber element of 80 μm lengths. The chip’s back facet is covered with a high reflective coating, the front facet with an anti-reflective coating. The resonator itself is operated in a collimated geometry and folded by two dielectric mirrors. The used output coupler provides a transmission of 20 percent, which is coupled into a tapered amplifier. Two Faraday isolators are used to decouple the laser and the amplifier from any back reflections. Subsequently, the pulses are compressed using a single pass Martinez type pulse compressor …