Mechanism of femtosecond-laser-induced periodic nanostructure formation on crystalline silicon surface immersed in water.

Focused on silicon surface in water, superimposed multiple shots of linearly polarized 800-nm, 100-fs, 10-Hz laser pulses at lower fluence than the single-pulse ablation threshold are shown to produce two kinds of periodic nanostructures with almost constant periods of 150 nm and 400 nm. Surface plasmon polaritons excited in the surface layer illustrates well the formation of nanostructures and its dynamic properties observed. Pump and probe measurements of the ultrafast change in surface reflectivity during the interaction have demonstrated that the multiple low-fluence fs pulses are crucial to the nanostructuring through the accumulation of non-thermal bonding structure change and the subsequent nanoscale ablation.