Large-area uniform periodic microstructures on fused silica induced by surface phonon polaritons and incident laser

A simple and convenient means to self-organize large-area uniform periodic microstructures on fused silica by using multiple raster scans of microsecond CO2 laser pulses with beam spot overlapping at normal incidence is presented, which is based on laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) attributed to the interference between surface phonon polaritons and incident CO2 laser. The evolution of fused silica surface morphologies with increasing raster scans indicates that the period of microstructures changed from 10.6 mu m to 9 mu m and the profiles of microstructures changed from a sinusoidal curve to a half-sinusoidal shape. Numerical simulation results suggest that the formation of the half-sinusoidal profile is due to the exponential relationship between evaporation rate and surface temperature inducing by the intensive interference between surface phonon polaritons and incident laser. The fabricated uniform periodic microstructures show excellent structural color effect in both forward-diffraction and back-diffraction. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.