Impurities removal by laser blow-off from in-vacuum optical surfaces on RFX-mod experiment

An in situ window cleaning system by laser blow-off through optical fiber has been developed on the basis of a feasibility study previously presented. The beam generated by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is launched in a vacuum box into a high damage threshold optical fiber through a lens. The fiber output is focused on the impurities-coated surface of a vacuum window exposed to the plasma of the RFX-mod experiment, and it is remotely controlled with an xy motion system to scan the entire surface. We first investigate the energy density threshold necessary to ablate the deposited impurity substrate on removed dirty windows: above threshold, a single laser pulse recovers ～95% of the window transmission before its exposure to the plasma, while below it the efficiency of the cleaning process is too poor. The system so conceived was then used to clean the three collection windows of the Main Thomson scattering diagnostic on RFX-mod. We also present results obtained applying the same technique to the SiO-protected Al mirror used for the Z(eff) diagnostic: an energy threshold for efficient impurity removal without mirror damage is first identified, then ablation tests are executed and analyzed in terms of recovered reflectivity. The SIMS technique is used both with windows and mirror to study the composition of surfaces before and after the ablation.     

Formation of subwavelength grating on molybdenum mirrors using a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system operating at 10 Hz

We report formation of subwavelength surface grating over large surface area of molybdenum mirror by multiple irradiation of amplified femtosecond laser pulses from a homemade Ti:sapphire oscillator-amplifier laser system in a raster scan configuration. The laser system delivered 2 mJ, 80 fs duration laser pulses at a pulse repetition rate of 10 Hz. Various parameters such as pulse fluence, number of pulses, laser polarization, scan speed, and scan steps were optimized to obtain uniform subwavelength gratings. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy measurements were conducted to analyze the elemental composition of mirror surfaces before and after laser treatment.     

Structuring of titanium using a nanosecond-pulsed Nd:YVO4 laser at 1064 nm

We demonstrate the manufacture of organized microstructures on titanium substrates in an air atmosphere utilizing a pulsed Nd:YVO₄ laser with pulse length of 8 ns and repetition rate of 30 kHz at 1064 nm. The ablation threshold of titanium for irradiation at this wavelength was measured to be in the range of 1.7–1.8 J/cm². For structuring of the metal, we used maximum laser energy fluence above the ablation threshold. This led to the generation of arrays of organized microstructures with average periods ranging from ~40 to ~90 μm. The mechanism for formation of the microstructures is discussed. Formation of such organized structures on titanium could find applications in sensing and biocompatibility.     

Ultrafast laser micromachining of 3C-SiC thin films for MEMS device fabrication

Femtosecond pulsed laser (800 nm, 120 fs) micromachining of thin films of 3C-SiC (β-SiC) semiconductor deposited on silicon substrate was investigated as a function of pulse energy (0.5 μJ to 750 μJ). The purpose is to establish suitable laser parametric regime for the fabrication of high accuracy, high spatial resolution and thin diaphragms for high-temperature MEMS pressure sensor applications. Etch rate, ablation threshold and quality of micromachined features were evaluated. The governing ablation mechanisms, such as thermal vaporization, phase explosion, Coulomb explosion and photomechanical fragmentation, were correlated with the effects of pulse energy. The results show that the etch rate is higher and the ablation threshold is lower than those obtained with nanosecond pulsed excimer laser ablation, suggesting femtosecond laser’s potential for rapid manufacturing. In addition, the etch rates were substantially higher than those achievable in various reactive ion and electrochemical etching methods. Excellent quality of machined features with little collateral thermal damage was obtained in the pulse energy range (1–10 μJ). The leading material removal mechanisms under these conditions were photomechanical fragmentation, ultrafast melting and vaporization. At very low pulse energies (<1 μJ), nanoscale material removal has occurred with the formation of nanoparticles that is attributed to Coulomb explosion mechanism. The effect of assist gas on the process performance at low and high energy fluences is also presented.     

Focusing quality of a split short laser pulse

For multiple laser pulse experiments, it is necessary to split a laser pulse. In order to split a short laser pulse without stretching the pulse width, the laser pulse should not pass through thick materials. For this reason, a pellicle beam splitter (BS) and/or a mirror with a hole are required as a BS for the short laser pulse. The focusing qualities of the laser pulse after passing through the pellicle BS and the mirror with a hole are the same as without the BS's. The laser pulse quality reflected by the BSs should be considered for the laser pulse. A pellicle BS is a thin foil, so, it is weak against vibrations. One should be careful about airflows and isolation from vibration sources. The spot size of the reflected laser pulse is consistent with the size reflected by a normal mirror. The energy loss is about 10% compared with a normal mirror. A mirror with a hole is strong against external vibrations. The reflected laser pulse has a doughnut shape. The reflected laser pulse is interfered due to the shape. In order to cleanly focus the laser pulse, the inside size of the doughnut should be smaller than a half size of the outside portion of the doughnut.     

An imaging proton spectrometer for short-pulse laser plasma experiments

The ultraintense short pulse laser pulses incident on solid targets can generate energetic protons. In addition to their potentially important applications such as in cancer treatments and proton fast ignition, these protons are essential to understand the complex physics of intense laser plasma interaction. To better characterize these laser-produced protons, we designed and constructed a novel spectrometer that will not only measure proton energy distribution with high resolution but also provide its angular characteristics. The information obtained from this spectrometer compliments those from commonly used diagnostics including radiochromic film packs, CR39 nuclear track detectors, and nonimaging magnetic spectrometers. The basic characterizations and sample data from this instrument are presented.     

激光等离子体加速电子机制研究进展

通过激光等离子体相互作用获得的高能电子束流在医学成像、癌症治疗、快点火聚变以及天体物理学等方面有着广泛的应用前景。随着啁啾脉冲放大技术的不断发展,激光脉冲的强度大幅提高的同时脉冲持续时间逐渐减小,超短超强激光脉冲与等离子体相互作用中激发出的大振幅的等离子体尾波能够有效地提高加速电子的能量。通过介绍近年来激光等离子体加速电子的主要加速机制的同时介绍该领域一些新的研究进展。     

飞秒激光正交线扫描诱导表面微纳结构

通过控制激光偏振与扫描方向,利用飞秒脉冲激光正交线扫描的微加工方式,在硅和不锈钢表面诱导出了规则分布的复合表面微纳结构并分析了激光能量密度对微纳表面结构形成的影响。实验显示:当激光的能量密度接近材料烧蚀阈值时,在硅表面诱导出了周期条纹嵌套纳米孔的双层复合二维结构,在不锈钢表面则诱导出了依赖于激光偏振方向的纳米点阵列分布,分析认为纳米点阵列是由周期条纹结构边缘发生断裂而生成的。另外,当激光的能量密度大于材料烧蚀阈值时,在硅和不锈钢表面会烧蚀出规则分布的微米级孔洞结构。实验结果表明:第一次扫描诱导出的表面微纳结构增加了对入射激光的吸收,促进入射激光与表面等离子体波的耦合,加强了后扫描的烧蚀效果,使得后扫描诱导出的微纳结构占主导。文中提出的正交线扫描的加工方式为微纳表面结构的制备提供了新的思路。     

准分子激光脉冲直写刻蚀速率与能量密度的关系

为了探索低成本、大深宽比加工方法,建立了实用的准分子激光微加工系统.以玻璃为实验靶材,用精密微动平台准确调节靶材位置,利用波长248nm的KrF准分子激光器,研究了准分子激光直写刻蚀过程中平均刻蚀速率与激光脉冲能量密度之间的关系.加工出的沟槽剖面形状均呈现锥型,单脉冲烧蚀速率随脉冲数的增加而减小,激光脉冲对材料的刻蚀具有能量阈值,加工槽的深度具有上限值.采用平行激光束或对加工过程进行动态控制还可实现矩形深槽或圆柱深孔的加工.     

基于光辐射压力的激光功率测量技术

随着激光应用领域的快速拓展,超高峰值功率、超窄脉宽逐渐成为未来激光行业的重点研究方向之一,这种激光的超高电场能量给高精度的激光功率测量提出了挑战。传统的激光功率测量方法,如光电法、热释电法、量热法等逐渐显露出不适用于上述激光功率测量的缺点,此外上述方法都难以实现实时、在线测量。为了克服以上困难,需要一种新型激光功率测量原理与方法。以美国国家标准与技术研究院为代表的机构提出了一种光辐射压力测量法,该方法使激光作用在高反射率的反射镜上,激光动量形成了光辐射压力,这个力可以采用多种力学传感方式进行计量。该方法不但能实现激光功率快速、准确测量,而且不影响激光能量传输,可以实现实时、在线的激光功率测量。系统回顾了国内外通过光辐射压力测量激光功率的基本原理和系统组成,光辐射压力测量激光功率的研究现状,并对该方法的发展方向进行了展望。     

Effect of process parameters in nanosecond pulsed laser micromachining of PMMA-based microchannels at near-infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths

This paper presents investigations on the effects of nanosecond laser processing parameters on depth and width of microchannels fabricated from polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) polymer. A neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet pulsed laser with a fundamental wavelength of 1,064 nm and a third harmonic wavelength of 355 nm with pulse duration of 5 ns is utilized. Hence, experiments are conducted at near-infrared (NIR) and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. The laser processing parameters of pulse energy (402–415 mJ at NIR and 35–73 mJ at UV wavelengths), pulse frequency (8–11 Hz), focal spot size (140–190 μm at NIR and 75 μm at UV wavelengths) and scanning rate (400–800 pulse/mm at NIR and 101–263 pulse/mm at UV wavelengths) are varied to obtain a wide range of fluence and processing rate. Microchannel width and depth profile are measured, and main effects plots are obtained to identify the effects of process parameters on channel geometry (width and depth) and material removal rate. The relationship between process variables (width and depth of laser-ablated microchannels) and process parameters is investigated. It is observed that channel width (140–430 μm at NIR and 100–150 μm at UV wavelengths) and depth (30–120 μm at NIR and 35–75 μm at UV wavelengths) decreased linearly with increasing fluence and increased non-linearly with increasing scanning rate. It is also observed that laser processing at UV wavelength provided more consistent channel profiles at lower fluences due to higher laser absorption of PMMA at this wavelength. Mathematical modeling for predicting microchannel profile was developed and validated with experimental results obtained with pulsed laser micromachining at NIR and UV wavelengths.     

Ablation drilling of invar alloy using ultrashort pulsed laser

Drilling a hole in Invar alloy is accomplished by using a nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser. However, this process has a few problems, such as heat effect and poor edge quality. Therefore, the ablation properties of the Invar alloy were investigated by using an ultrashort pulsed laser, which is a regenerative amplifier Ti:sapphire laser with a 1 kHz repetition rate, a 184 fs pulse duration, and a 785 nm wavelength. To study the ablation characteristics of the Invar alloy, we measured the ablation shape, width, and ablated depth at the energy fluence of a single pulse. The optimal condition for hole drilling is a z-axis transfer depth of 4 μm, a circular feed rate of 0.2 mm/s, and a pulse energy of 26.4 μJ. A fine circular hole without burrs and thermal damage were obtained under the optimal processing conditions. The ultrashort pulsed laser system is an excellent tool for micro-hole drilling in Invar alloys without heat effects and poor edge quality.     

长脉宽脉冲激光硅片弯曲成形试验

利用毫秒脉宽Nd:YAG激光对硅片进行了弯曲试验,给出了长脉宽脉冲激光弯曲硅片的能量阈值条件。研究了长脉宽Nd:YAG激光脉冲频率和脉冲宽度参数对硅片弯曲角度的影响,同时说明了脉冲频率和脉冲宽度参数对弯曲角度的影响可以转换成扫描速度和功率密度对弯曲角度的影响,并对试验结果进行了分析,引入了脉冲占空比来表征能量的时域分布对弯曲现象的影响。试验结果表明,采用毫秒量级脉冲激光可以对硅片进行弯曲加工,弯曲角度可达20°以上。     

飞秒脉冲激光沉积类金刚石膜实验研究

期望用类金刚石膜作为硅的红外保护/增透膜,采用波长为800nm,脉宽50fs,重复频率1KH z的T i:Sapph ire飞秒激光器及石墨靶材在单晶S i片上沉积了约0.7μm~1μm厚的类金刚石膜(d iam ond-like carbon film s,DLC),获得了光滑致密,硬度显著提高,红外透过率有一定增加的样品。通过对薄膜拉曼光谱和X射线光电子能谱等的测试,发现单脉冲能量在0.4m J~1.6m J范围内变动时,单脉冲能量0.8m J获得的类金刚石膜综合性能最佳,其对应的焦斑功率密度计算值为1.4×1014W/cm2。     

Nonequilibrium heat transfer characteristics during ultrafast pulse laser heating of a silicon microstructure

This work provides the fundamental knowledge of energy transport characteristics during very short-pulse laser heating of semiconductors from a microscopic viewpoint. Based on the self-consistent hydrodynamic equations, in-situ interactions between carriers, optical phonons, and acoustic phonons are simulated to figure out energy transport mechanism during ultrafast pulse laser heating of a silicon substrate through the detailed information on the time and spatial evolutions of each temperature for carriers, longitudinal optical (LO) phonons, acoustic phonons. It is found that nonequilibrium between LO phonons and acoustic phonons should be considered for ultrafast pulse laser heating problem, two-peak structures become apparently present for the subpicosecond pulses because of the Auger heating. A substantial increase in carrier temperature isobserveds for lasers with a few picosecond pulse duration, whereas the temperature rise of acoustic and phonon temperatures is relatively small with decreasing laser pulse widths. A slight lagging behavior is observed due to the differences in relaxation times and heat capacities between two different phonons. Moreover, the laser fluence has a significant effect on the decaying rate of the Auger recombination.     

重复频率锁定的783 nm飞秒光纤激光器研制

设计并搭建了重复频率长时精确锁定的783 nm飞秒光纤激光器。该激光器基于全保偏非线性干涉环镜(NALM),实现掺铒光纤振荡器锁模脉冲输出,由与脉冲分离器级联的环境稳定掺铒光纤双级放大器进行功率放大,实现了平均功率1.30 W、脉冲宽度130 fs、重复频率77.1 MHz、1 560 nm脉冲输出;通过周期极化铌酸锂(PPLN)光学晶体倍频,获得了平均功率为0.52 W、脉冲宽度为140 fs、783 nm脉冲输出。通过重复频率监测及锁相环技术,进一步将掺铒光纤振荡器的重复频率溯源至参考铷原子钟,12 h内频率抖动峰-峰值为5 mHz、标准偏差为1.2 mHz。该激光器系统具有稳定性高、集成度高、体积小的特点。     

Laser beam combiner for Thomson scattering core LIDAR

The light detection and ranging Thomson scattering (TS) diagnostic is advantageous since it only requires a single view port into the tokamak. This technique requires a short pulse laser at high energy, usually showing a limited repetition rate. Having multiple lasers will increase the repetition rate. This paper presents a scanning mirror as a laser beam combiner. Measurements of the position accuracy and jitter show that the pointing stability of the laser beam is within ±25?μrad for over tens of seconds. A control feedback loop is implemented to demonstrate the long term stability. Such a system could be applied for ITER and JET.     

CO2 laser pulse shortening by laser ablation of a metal target

A repeatable and flexible technique for pulse shortening of laser pulses has been applied to transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO(2) laser pulses. The technique involves focusing the laser output onto a highly reflective metal target so that plasma is formed, which then operates as a shutter due to strong laser absorption and scattering. Precise control of the focused laser intensity allows for timing of the shutter so that different temporal portions of the pulse can be reflected from the target surface before plasma formation occurs. This type of shutter enables one to reduce the pulse duration down to ~2 ns and to remove the low power, long duration tails that are present in TEA CO(2) pulses. The transmitted energy is reduced as the pulse duration is decreased but the reflected power is ~10 MW for all pulse durations. A simple laser heating model verifies that the pulse shortening depends directly on the plasma formation time, which in turn is dependent on the applied laser intensity. It is envisaged that this plasma shutter will be used as a tool for pulse shaping in the search for laser pulse conditions to optimize conversion efficiency from laser energy to useable extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation for EUV source development.     

激光诱导空泡微孔抛光机理及实验研究

针对微孔抛光的问题,提出了一种新的抛光方法,该方法利用激光聚焦水中产生空泡,并利用激光等离子体冲击波、空泡溃灭冲击波和射流推送磨粒进行微孔抛光。通过高速摄影仪和高频动态压力传感器对激光诱导空泡机理进行了研究。利用不同激光脉冲能量、脉冲次数和脉冲频率对304不锈钢管进行抛光实验,发现随着激光脉冲能量（7~21.6mJ）和脉冲次数（0~7000）的增加,微孔表面粗糙度也随之改善;同时激光在低脉冲频率（1~10Hz）情况下,改变脉冲频率的大小对微孔的抛光效果影响不大。对微孔在不同位置的抛光效果进行了对比分析,发现孔入口1~1.5mm处的抛光效果较好,孔中和孔尾的抛光效果不佳。通过激光诱导空泡微孔抛光机理和实验研究,表明微孔抛光过程是激光等离子体冲击波、空泡溃灭冲击波和射流共同作用的过程,并得到了激光微孔抛光的一般规律。     

空间激光主动探测离轴三反系统的猫眼效应

采用光线追迹法,分析了空间环境下离轴三反结构系统的猫眼效应。给出了离轴三反系统的像面倾斜、视场和离焦对猫眼回波效率和发散角的影响,证明了离轴三反系统像面倾斜量是决定能否发生猫眼效应的主要因素。提出利用阈值法实现激光主动探测猫眼信号的基本原理,并结合高阶余弦漫反射模型,分析了目标漫反射信号对猫眼信号检测的影响。估算了20km到120km探测距离下,理论上所需不同光束质量激光的最小脉冲能量。仿真表明,当发射光束的全角发散角为0.3mrad时,50km和120km探测距离下所需的最小激光脉冲能量分别为0.7mJ和3.1mJ。最后,通过原理实验,验证了空间激光主动探测法探测目标"猫眼"效应的可行性。