Regular subwavelength surface structures induced by femtosecond laser pulses on stainless steel

Abstract

In this research, we studied the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures on the stainless steel surface using femtosecond laser pulses. A $780\mathrm{nm}$ wavelength femtosecond laser, through a $0.2\mathrm{mm}$ pinhole aperture for truncating fluence distribution, was focused onto the stainless steel surface. Under different experimental condition, low-spatial-frequency laser-induced periodic surface structures with a period of $526\mathrm{nm}$ and high-spatial-frequency laser-induced periodic surface structures with a period of $310\mathrm{nm}$ were obtained. The mechanism of the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures on the stainless steel surface is discussed.

© 2009 Optical Society of America