We report the formation dynamics of periodic ripples on GaAs induced by femtosecond laser pulses (800 nm, 50 fs) via a collinear time-resolved imaging technique with a temporal resolution of 1 ps and a spatial resolution of 440 nm. The onset of periodic ripples emerges in the initial tens of picoseconds in the timescale of material ejection. The periodic ripples appear after irradiation of at least two pump pulses at surface defects produced by the first pulse and the ripple positions kept stable until the formation processes complete. The formation mechanisms of laser-induced periodic ripples are also discussed.

The manipulation of the subpulse number, pulse delay, and pulse energy distribution of an ultrafast laser enables electron dynamics control by changing absorptions, excitations, ionizations, and recombinations of electrons, which can result in smaller, cleaner, and more controllable structures. This letter experimentally reveals that ablation sizes and recasts can be controlled by shaping femtosecond pulse trains to adjust transient localized electron dynamics, material properties, and corresponding phase change mechanisms.

Ultrafast electromagnetic waves radiated from semiconductor material under high electric fields and photoexcited by femtosecond laser pulses have been recorded by using terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The waveforms of these electromagnetic waves reflect the dynamics of the photoexcited carriers in the semiconductor material, thus, THz-TDS provides a unique opportunity to observe directly the temporal and spatial evolutions of non-equilibrium transport of carriers within sub-picosecond time scale. We report on the observed THz emission waveforms emitted from GaAs by using a novel technology, the time domain THz electro-optic (EO) sampling, which has a bipolar feature, i.e., an initial positive peak and a subsequent negative dip that arises from its velocity overshoot. The initial positive peak has been interpreted as electron acceleration in the bottom of valley in GaAs, where electrons have a light effective mass. The subsequent negative dip has been attributed to intervalley transfer from to X and L valleys. Furthermore, the power dissipation spectra of the bulk GaAs in THz range are also investigated by using the Fourier transformation of the time domain THz traces. From the power dissipation spectra, the cutoff frequency for negative power dissipation (i.e., gain) under step electric field in the bulk GaAs can also be obtained. The cutoff frequency for the gain gradually increases with increasing electric fields up to 50 kV/cm and achieves saturation at approximately 1 THz at 300 K. Furthermore, based on the temperature dependence of the cutoff frequency, we find that this cutoff frequency is governed by the energy relaxation process of electrons from L to valley via successive optical phonon emission.

Femtosecond (fs) pulse laser ablation of silicon targets in air and in vacuum is investigated using a time-resolved shadowgraphic method. The observed dynamic process of the fs laser ablation of silicon in air is significantly different from that in vacuum. Similar to the ablation of metallic targets, while the shock wave front and a series of nearly concentric and semicircular stripes, as well as the contact front, are clearly identifiable in the process of ablation under 1￡105 Pa, these phenomena are no longer observed when the ablation takes place in vacuum. Although the ambient air around the target strongly affects the evolution of the ablation plume, the three rounds of material ejection clearly observed in the shadowgraphs of fs laser ablation in standard air can also be distinguished in the process of ablation in vacuum. It is proven that the three rounds of material ejection are caused by different ablation mechanisms.

We observe the instantaneous frequency and amplitude modulations of the C-C stretching mode with a central frequency of 1343 cm?1 in a poly (substituted thiophene) using 6.3 fs laser pulses by the method of real-time vibrational spectroscopy. Spectrogram analysis shows that both amplitude and instantaneous frequency of the mode with a central frequency of about 1343 cm?1 are modulated. Both modulation frequencies are found to be 120?130 cm?1, which provides evidence of dynamical coupling between a stretching mode and another stretching mode mediated by a low-frequency bending mode.

Nonlinear processes associated with terahertz radiation generated via optical rectification from undoped GaP crystal, including second harmonic generation (SHG) and multiphoton absorption processes, are examined. Experimental results of polarization-resolved SHG are obtained.

We report the fabrication of submicrometer pits array (SP-array) on 6H-SiC surface by the interference of two femtosecond laser beams. Formation mechanisms and optical absorption of SP-array are studied. The relative reflectivity and transmissivity of white light decrease to 10% of the values of SiC crystal, and the optical absorption is enhanced to 97%. The relative reflectivity and transmissivity of incident angles within the range of 20o~60o are kept below 25%. The enhancement mechanism of optical absorption of the SP-array is also discussed.

We observe the morphological change and grain structure of Ni foil when it is ablated with femtosecond laser pulses. Scanning electron microscopy and ˉeld emission transmission electron microscopy are used to study the nature of the morphology and grain structure of nickel foil and determine the essential features. The results indicate that there are many random nanostructures in the center of the ablated region composed of nanocrystalline grains as well as some core-shell structures. The observed morphologies seem to suggest that phase explosion and extremely high cooling rate are the most probable physical mechanisms responsible for the formation of surface nanostructures.

The femtosecond laser induced void array inside Al2O3 crystals was discussed. The void array was formed spontaneously under the irradiation of a single beam of infrared femtosecond laser which was focused at a fixed point inside the Al2O3 crystal sample. It was found that the regular voids only could be fabricated near the sample surface, which was different from the situation in CaF2 single crystal reported before. The possible mechanism of the phenomena was also discussed.

Cubic silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires are synthesized in a catalyst-assisted process. The nanowires with diameter of ~40 nm exhibit strong blue light emission at room temperature under ultraviolet (UV) femtosecond laser excitation. The photon energy of peak emission is higher than the energy bandgap of cubic SiC which shows involvement of quantum conf inement ef fect. The ultrafast f luorescence is deconvoluted by Monte-Carlo method. The results show two ultrafast decay processes whose lifetimes are about 26 and 567 ps respectively. The mechanisms of such ultrafast processes are discussed.