Highly regular laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) have been produced on various metals using femtosecond laser irradiation. The processing speeds of structuring are competitive with established industrial techniques.
This study, performed in collaboration with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE), Italy, provides key insights into the mechanisms responsible for the observed regularity across a wide range of metals and predicts laser parameters for achieving highly regular LIPSS. The study introduces a new reliable methodology for quantifying structural regularity, which becomes widely adopted by the laser nanostructuring community.
Prediction and verification of the LIPSS regularity based on the calculated mean free path LSPP of the surface electromagnetic wave. SEM images obtained with the same magnification are shown for metals studied in the paper with the corresponding 2D-FT (two-dimensional Fourier transform) images.