Characterization of femtosecond laser filament-fringes in titanium

Abstract

In this paper, we characterize the femtosecond laser filament-fringes in titanium. In order to fabricate regular arrays of filaments, we place either a pinhole or a beam shaper in the optical path of the femtosecond laser beam that originates linear diffraction of the laser beam. Soda-lime glass is used as Kerr medium to produce the filaments. As a consequence, the intensity distribution of the laser beam is modulated and fringe type of filament distributions is evident. The suitable control over the size of the diaphragms (pinhole or beam shaper) leads us to adjust the shape, orientation, and number of filaments in each irradiated spots in titanium sample. By properly adjusting the diameter of a pinhole that was placed in the optical path, we are successful in forming a single filament in titanium. By using these single filaments, we fabricated high aspect ratio periodic holes in the titanium surface by moving the translation stage in both horizontal and vertical directions. The period of the holes in the horizontal direction is controlled by varying the scanning speed, whereas the period in the vertical direction is controlled by varying the vertical scanning step. We strongly believe that, filamentation technology described in this paper will have applications in forming a variety of micro/nano-structures in various materials.