Large-area laser nano-texturing with user-defined patterns

Writing nano-sized features less than the diffraction limit of the lasers efficiently over a large area requires special technology development. This paper reports the use of a self-assembled particle lens array with near-field enhancement effect to write millions of nano-sized user-defined features, e. g. English letters, lines, curves, simultaneously by angular beam scanning. About a 5 mm x 5 mm area can be written with a single shot of a laser beam or few scans for up to 100 million identical features of nano or sub-micro scales. With the help of certain environmental conditions, such as the use of a suitable chemical solution in conjunction with the particle lens array, the characteristic of the features produced can be further controlled, including the generation of reversed (e. g. pits become hills and grooves become walls) features of laser-written patterns. The technical challenges, experimental findings and theoretical analysis/simulation are presented.