Resonant-Plasmon-Assisted Subwavelength Ablation by a Femtosecond Oscillator

Liping Shi (1) , Bianca Iwan (2) , Quentin Ripault (3) , José R. c. Andrade (1) , Seunghwoi Han (4) , Hyunwoong Kim (4) , Willem Boutu (3, 5) , Dominik Franz (3, 5) , Rana Nicolas (3, 5) , Torsten Heidenblut (6) , Carsten Reinhardt (7) , Bert Bastiaens (8) , Tamas Nagy (1) , Ihar Babuskin (9) , Uwe Morgner (1) , Seung-Woo Kim (10) , Günter Steinmeyer (9) , Hamed Merdji (3, 5) , Milutin Kovačev (1)

1 IQ - Institut für Quantenoptik [Hannover]
2 QUEST - Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space-time Research
3 LIDYL - Laboratoire Interactions, Dynamiques et Lasers (ex SPAM)
4 KAIST - Department of Electrical Engineering [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology]
5 ATTO - Attophysique
6 Institut für Werkstoffkunde, Leibniz Universität Hannover,
7 Laser Zentrum Hannover
8 MESA+ - Institute for Nanotechnology
9 MBI - Max-Born-Institut für Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie
10 KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

We experimentally demonstrate the use of subwavelength optical nanoantennas to assist a direct nanoscale ablation using the ultralow fluence of a Ti:sapphire oscillator through the excitation of surface plasmon waves. The mechanism is attributed to nonthermal transient unbonding and electrostatic ablation, which is triggered by the surface plasmon-enhanced field electron emission and acceleration in vacuum. We show that the electron-driven ablation appears for both nanoscale metallic as well as dielectric materials. While the observed surface plasmon-enhanced local ablation may limit the applications of nanostructured surfaces in extreme nonlinear nanophotonics, it, nevertheless, also provides a method for nanomachining, manipulation, and modification of nanoscale materials. Collateral thermal damage to the antenna structure can be suitably avoided, and nonlinear conversion processes can be stabilized by a dielectric overcoating of the antenna.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Liping Shi, Bianca Iwan, Quentin Ripault, José R. c. Andrade, Seunghwoi Han, et al.. Resonant-Plasmon-Assisted Subwavelength Ablation by a Femtosecond Oscillator. Physical Review Applied, 2018, 9 (2), ⟨10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.024001⟩. ⟨cea-01713307⟩