Browsing by Subject "Nonlinear laser lithography"

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Open Access
The alignment of nematic liquid crystal by the Ti layer processed by nonlinear laser lithography
(Taylor and Francis, 2018) Pavlov, Ihor; Rybak, A.; Dobrovolskiy, A.; Kadan, V.; Blonskiy, I.; İlday, Fatih Ömer; Kazantseva, Z.; Gvozdovskyy, I.
It is well known that the alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) can be realised by rubbing or photoalignment technologies. Recently, nonlinear laser lithography (NLL) was introduced as a fast, relatively low-cost method for large area nano-grating fabrication based on laser-induced periodic surface structuring. In this letter for the first time, the usage of the NLL as a perspective method of the alignment of nematics was presented. By NLL, nanogrooves with about 0.92 μm period were formed on Ti layer. The nanostructured Ti layer (NSTL) was coated with oxidianiline-polyimide film with annealing of the polymer followed without any further processing. Aligning properties of NSTLs were examined with combined twist LC cell. The dependencies of the twist angle of LC cells and azimuthal anchoring energy (AE) of layers on scanning speed and power of laser beam during processing of the Ti layer were the focus of our studies as well. The maximum azimuthal AE, obtained for pure NSTL, is comparable with photoalignment technology. It was found that the deposition of polyimide film on NSTL leads to the gain effect of the azimuthal AE. Also, atomic force microscopy (AFM) study of aligning surfaces was carried out.
Open Access
Computer-generated holograms embedded in bulk silicon with nonlinear laser lithography
(IEEE, 2016) Turnalı, Ahmet; Tokel, Onur; Makey, Ghaith; Pavlov, Ihor; İlday, Fatih Ömer
Recently, we have showed a direct laser writing method to form subsurface structures inside silicon by exploiting nonlinear interactions. Here, we demonstrate utilization of this phenomenon to create computer-generated holograms buried in silicon.
Open Access
Controlled surface structuring with nonlinear laser lithography
(2018-01) Yavuz, Özgün
Self-organisation has always fascinated researchers from all branches of sciences and engineering. Despite its ubiquity, our present understanding of its core principles and in particular how to control self-organised phenomena is at its infancy. A particularly rich case of self-organisation arises from the interactions of intensely powerful laser beams with material surfaces. As this phenomenon leads to formation of sub-wavelength, thereby, nanoscale periodic structures through a simple, one-step process performed in ambient atmosphere, there has been tremendous interest in its use in applications, ranging from tribology to data storage. However, there remains much to be desired in terms of our ability to control, regulate, dynamically modify the resulting structures. A technique recently demonstrated in our group, Nonlinear Laser Lithography (NLL), has made possible the creation of extremely uniform, virtually perfectly periodic self-organised nanostructures, which are in the form of parallel nanoscale lines. These nanostructures can be used to cover or tile indefinitely large areas without any apparent loss in quality or uniformity. Armed with this advance, we are now in a position to look beyond getting simply periodic structures and to develop conceptual tools and practical techniques for advanced control of the self-organisation process and to create a vast array of self-organised structures. In this thesis, we first develop a rigorous theoretical model for NLL, which we then show to possess excellent predictive power and can efficiently guide the experiments. We first reveal an interesting, self-organised effect, namely that the nanostructures respond to a tilting of the laser beam's wavefront in a manner that is strongly analogous to the well-known Doppler effect. Further, building on the rigorous model developed in this thesis, we propose and experimentally demonstrate that noise or modulations in the laser beam or defects on the surface can each steer the self-organised process. We further show that by deliberately introducing noise or defects, we can achieve patterns that are impossible to achieve otherwise. As an ultimate demonstration of this capability, we report on the creation of all the Bravais lattices possible for a surface. While the main results to be reported concern the NLL technique, the conceptual tools developed in this thesis rely on general properties of selforganisation through an interplay of positive and negative nonlinear feedback mechanisms. This defines a broad class of self-organising systems. As such, it is likely that the techniques we introduce can be appropriately adapted to achieve similar control over self-organised patterns forming in entirely different physical systems.
Open Access
High-quality alignment of nematic liquid crystals using periodic nanostructures created by nonlinear laser lithography
(Elsevier B.V., 2018) Pavlov, I. A.; Rybak, A. S.; Dobrovolskiy, A. M.; Kadan, V. M.; Blonskiy, I. V.; Kazantseva, Z. I.; Gvozdovskyy, I. A.
It is well known that today two main and well studied methods for alignment of liquid crystals has been used, namely: rubbing and photoalignment technologies, that lead to the change of anisotropic properties of aligning layers and long-range interaction of the liquid crystal molecules in a mesophase. In this manuscript, we use the nonlinear laser lithography technique, which was recently presented as a fast, relatively low-cost method for a large area micro and nanogrooves fabrication based on laser-induced periodic surface structuring, as a new perspective method of the alignment of nematic liquid crystals. 920 nm periodic grooves were formed on a Ti layer processed by means of the nonlinear laser lithography and studied as an aligning layer. Aligning properties of the periodic structures of Ti layers were examined by using a combined twist LC cell. In addition, the layer of the nanostructured Ti was coated with an oxidianiline-polyimide film with annealing of the polymer film followed without any further processing. The dependence of the twist angle of LC cells on a scanning speed and power of laser beam during processing of the Ti layer was studied. The azimuthal anchoring energy of Ti layers with a periodic nanostructure was calculated. The maximum azimuthal anchoring energy for the nanostructured Ti layer was about 4.6 × 10−6 J/m2, which is comparable to the photoalignment technology. It was found that after the deposition of a polyimide film on the periodic nanostructured Ti layer, the gain effect of the azimuthal anchoring energy to ~1 × 10−4 J/m2 is observed. Also, AFM study of aligning surfaces was carried out.
Open Access
Spatial and temporal symmetry breaking in nonlinear laser lithography
(2023-01) Bin Aamir, Abdullah
Symmetry breaking is ubiquitous in nonlinear systems. This is also the case for Nonlinear Laser Lithography (NLL), in which an ultrafast laser beam incident on a material surface causes the infinite fold rotational symmetry of the material surface to be broken. In the case of linear polarization, line like structures are obtained that possess 2-fold rotational symmetry. We discuss two types of NLL, one due to the formation of oxide structures (Oxidation NLL) and the other due to material ablation (Ablation NLL). The existence of both types of structures is known for many years, however, although the regularity of oxidative structures has been significantly improved by our group earlier, the same was not true for ablative structures. Here, using the technique for Oxidation NLL and the parameters for ablative structures, we were able to achieve highly regular ablative structures which we call Ablation NLL. We demonstrate the coexistence of these two NLL structures on the same surface and how a plane can be tiled using them. Furthermore, we explore the phase space of NLL and determine the regions of the phase space occupied by the two NLL structures. We also demonstrate the versatility of NLL by obtaining Oxidation and Ablation NLL structures on several metals as well as on Silicon. We also discuss temporal symmetry breaking in NLL. If the laser beam is not incident normal to the surface and is tilted towards or away from the scanning direction, it can cause the period of the NLL structures to decrease or increase respectively. One can thus discern if a video of the beam creating a pattern while scanning over the surface along a line is run forward or backward. This dependence on the scanning direction leads to temporal symmetry breaking and is reminiscent of the Doppler effect. These symmetry breakings can be important for future research in this field along with possible commercial applications, some of which we have discussed here.