Complete wavefront and polarization control for ultrashort-pulse laser microprocessing
O J Allegre, Y Jin, W Perrie, J Ouyang, E Fearon, S P Edwardson, and G Dearden
O J Allegre, Y Jin,* W Perrie, J Ouyang, E Fearon, S P Edwardson, and G Dearden
Laser Group, School of Engineering, University of Liverpool, L69 3GQ, UK
*Corresponding author: Yang.Jin@liv.ac.uk
O Allegre
Y Jin
W Perrie
J Ouyang
E Fearon
S Edwardson
G Dearden
O J Allegre, Y Jin, W Perrie, J Ouyang, E Fearon, S P Edwardson, and G Dearden, "Complete wavefront and polarization control for ultrashort-pulse laser microprocessing," Opt. Express 21, 21198-21207 (2013)
Laser Microfabrication
Azimuthally polarized beams
Optical angular momentum
Optical fields
Thin film solar cells
Vortex beams
Optical vortices (080.4865)
Laser beam shaping (140.3300)
Laser materials processing (140.3390)
Ultrafast lasers (140.7090)
Spatial light modulators (230.6120)
Polarization (260.5430)
Manuscript Accepted: August 9, 2013
We report on new developments in wavefront and polarization control for ultrashort-pulse laser microprocessing. We use two Spatial Light Modulators in combination to structure the optical fields of a picosecond-pulse laser beam, producing vortex wavefronts and radial or azimuthal polarization states. We also carry out the first demonstration of multiple first-order beams with vortex wavefronts and radial or azimuthal polarization states, produced using Computer Generated Holograms. The beams produced are used to nano-structure a highly polished metal surface. Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures are observed and used to directly verify the state of polarization in the focal plane and help to characterize the optical properties of the setup.
Tailored optical vector fields for ultrashort-pulse laser induced complex surface plasmon structuring
J. Ouyang, W. Perrie, O. J. Allegre, T. Heil, Y. Jin, E. Fearon, D. Eckford, S. P. Edwardson, and G. Dearden
Dynamic modulation of spatially structured polarization fields for real-time control of ultrafast laser-material interactions
Y. Jin, O. J. Allegre, W. Perrie, K. Abrams, J. Ouyang, E. Fearon, S. P. Edwardson, and G. Dearden
Microdrilling in steel using ultrashort pulsed laser beams with radial and azimuthal polarization
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Abdou-Ahmed, M.
Allegre, O. J.
Arnold, C. B.
Audouard, E.
Banks, P. S.
Barrot, F.
Bauchert, K.
Baum, A.
Bélanger, P. A.
Bellouard, Y.
Beresna, M.
Beversluis, M. R.
Bottinelli, S.
Breguet, J. M.
Breitling, D.
Champion, A.
Chappuis, O.
Chujo, K.
Clark, R. L.
Clavel, R.
Cole, D. G.
Corbari, C.
Dausinger, F.
Dearden, G.
Dong, J.
Donnet, C.
Duocastella, M.
Dusing, J. F.
Edwardson, S.
Edwardson, S. P.
Fallnich, C.
Fauchet, P. M.
Fearon, E.
Feit, M. D.
Feurer, T.
Föhl, C.
Gecevicius, M.
Gecys, P.
Gedvilas, M.
Gertus, T.
Graf, T.
Grubinskas, S.
Gu, B.
Guosheng, Z.
Hamazaki, J.
Hasegawa, S.
Hayasaki, Y.
Hoenninger, C.
Hopper, M.
Huignard, J. P.
Huot, N.
Jenness, N. J.
Jia, H.
Johannes, M. S.
Kamlage, G.
Kazansky, P.
Kazansky, P. G.
Kling, R.
Klug, U.
Kobayashi, Y.
Kral, M.
Kraus, M.
Kuang, Z.
Larat, C.
Le Harzic, R.
Lenssen, B.
Liao, J.
Liu, D.
Lopez, J.
Lou, K.
Lou, Q.
Mabillard, Y.
Malzer, S.
Matteucci, M.
Meier, M.
Michalowski, A.
Momma, C.
Morita, R.
Mottay, E.
Nesterov, A. V.
Nie, Y.
Nishida, N.
Niziev, V. G.
Nolte, S.
Novotny, L.
Omatsu, T.
Onuseit, V.
Ostendorf, A.
Padgett, M. J.
Perrie, W.
Perry, M. D.
Qi, J.
Qian, S. X.
Raciukaitis, G.
Rioux, M.
Romano, V.
Rominger, V.
Rubenchik, A. M.
Ruf, A.
Sanner, N.
Sato, T.
Schaap, A.
Scully, P. J.
Siegman, A. E.
Sivakumar, N. R.
Sommer, S.
Stanley, P.
Stranick, S. J.
Stuart, B. C.
Sudani, N.
Sugimoto, T.
Sun, W.
Takita, A.
Tan, B.
Tan, J.
Tanda, S.
Tremblay, R.
Tu, C.
Valette, S.
Venkatakrishnan, K.
Von Alvensleben, F.
Wang, H. T.
Wang, L. J.
Wang, X. L.
Washio, K.
Watkins, K.
Watkins, K. G.
Weber, R.
Wei, Y.
Weikert, M.
Welling, H.
Wu, G.
Wulff, K. D.
Zhang, J.
Zhao, Q. Z.
Zhou, J.
Appl. Phys. B (1)
Appl. Phys., A Mater. Sci. Process. (5)
Appl. Surf. Sci. (2)
J. Micromech. Microeng. (1)
JLMN (1)
Laser Photonics Rev. (1)
Phys. Procedia (1)
Fig. 1 Schematic of the SLM Converter, which consists of two SLMs and two zero-order waveplates. SLM1 instigates a phase pattern designed to structure the beam wavefronts. After SLM1, the horizontal polarization is tilted to + 45 with a half-waveplate. SLM2 and the quarter-waveplate are used to convert the incident linear polarization into the desired state of polarization. This schematic represents the top view of the setup. For the Jones vector calculation, we define a coordinate system with a horizontal axis (x) and a vertical axis (y).
Fig. 2 Schematic showing how the SLM Converter is used to control the wavefront and polarization of a picosecond-pulse laser microprocessing setup. The "polarization test components" are removed when the micro-processing tests are carried out.
Fig. 3 (a) Vortex wavefront induced at SLM1. (b) Incident beam profile before SLM1. (c) Resulting beam profile after SLM1. The colour coded scale represents intensity, in arbitrary units.
Fig. 4 Optical micrographs showing the focal spot produced with ~100 pulses at 3μJ/pulse, with the SLM Converter producing a Gaussian beam (a) and a vortex beam (b). In each case, the LIPSS are perpendicular to the linear polarization, which is indicated with blue arrows.
Fig. 5 Beam profiles produced by a (a) radially or (b) azimuthally polarized collimated beam, after transmission through a polarizing filter with its transmission axis oriented horizontally. The colour coded scale represents intensity in arbitrary units. The vortex wavefronts which are induced at SLM2 are shown in the top-left inlays.
Fig. 6 Optical micrographs showing the focal spots produced with ~100 pulses at 3μJ/pulse, with the SLM Converter producing a vortex beam (orbital angular momentum l = 1) polarized radially (a) and azimuthally (b). The blue arrows indicate the polarization fields.
Fig. 7 (a) CGH induced at SLM1 to produce three first-order focal spots. (b) Vortex wavefront induced at SLM1, in addition to the CGH. (c) Optical micrograph showing the three focal spots produced simultaneously with a vortex beam mode.
Fig. 8 Beam profiles produced by a (a) radially or (b) azimuthally polarized beam, after transmission through a polarizing filter with its transmission axis oriented horizontally. The colour coded scale represents intensity, in arbitrary units. Interference fringes from the first-order diffracted beams superimpose on the radial/azimuthal profiles. The vortex wavefronts which are induced at SLM2 are shown in the top-left inlays.
Fig. 9 (a) Optical micrograph showing the multiple laser spots marked simultaneously at the focal plane, with ~100 pulses at 3µJ/pulse, when the SLM Converter produced three first-order beams polarized radially. (b) A magnification of one of three focal spots produced with a radially polarized beam. (c) One of three spots produced with an azimuthally polarized beam. The blue arrows indicate the direction of polarization, which is perpendicular to the LIPSS.
Table 1 Jones matrices
(1) T(x,y)= 1 2 Q×R× S 2 (x,y)×H× S 1 (x,y).
(2) J out (x,y)= e −i π 2 × e i ϕ 1 (x,y) × e i ϕ 2 (x,y) 2 ×( sin ϕ 2 (x,y) 2 cos ϕ 2 (x,y) 2 ).
Jones matrices
S2(x,y)
( 1 0 0 e −i π 2 ) ( 1 −1 1 1 ) ( 1 0 0 e i× ϕ 2 (x,y) ) ( 1 1 1 −1 ) ( e i× ϕ 1 (x,y) 0 0 1 )